Taoiseach says will 'fulfil mandate' into next elections

Asked if he had seen off a mini-rebellion in the past few days, Mr Martin said he did not see off anything "because there wasn't anything to see off".

However he conceded that the past week had been challenging.

On Wednesday, three of the party's youngest TDs issued a letter criticising the handling of recent fuel price protests, in which they said they viewed "events of the past few weeks with a real and deep concern".

This was followed by other party members voicing their disquiet at the Government's handling of fuel protests and blockades, although on Friday Cabinet ministers gave their backing to the Taoiseach.

"I haven't seen off anything because there wasn't anything to see off. To be honest, in the last week, it's been a challenging week, obviously, for many, many people," he said.

Speaking after the party's annual Arbour Hill commemoration of the leaders of the 1916 rising, Mr Martin repeatedly stressed that he had a mandate from the party and its members to continue to lead Fianna Fáil.

He said he had attended a meeting of the party's councillors in Mullingar over the weekend and that there was a very supportive reception for him.

"There was a very, very warm, positive reception from the grassroots of the party.

"Anybody who knows me, any members of the parliamentary party, know that I've knocked on doors with them on streets, and I have to be very strongly assertive on this point.

"I've been elected in many elections. I'm very connected to people. I'm on the ground almost permanently on a seven day a week basis, and I will continue to engage with my parliamentary party," he said.

Mr Martin said he was first elected in 1989 and has a "fair idea of tough times".

"We have a war situation in the Middle East, which has created a lot of pressure on families and on people," he said.

"I think our role and our objective is to seek ways to try and structurally alleviate the pressures on people because I think we have to accept the fact that there will be perhaps further shocks, we hope that the dialogue will continue in the Middle East and we get a resolution and an end to the war."

In the face of criticism about the level of input from the parliamentary party to Fianna Fáil policy, he said he would continue to seek new ways to broaden and structure engagement and consultation.

Mr Martin also dismissed an assertion from the leader of Independent Ireland Michael Collins that Fianna Fáil councillors were seeking to jump ship to the rival party.

"We have no evidence of that interest. Fianna Fáil is the largest party in local government. We've had three local elections since 2014, no one expected us to have a majority," he said.

"We're not fearful at all of any sort of migration to independents in the local elections."

Read more: 5 reasons why mooted move against Martin ended before it began

Additional reporting by PA