Senior Fine Gael figures have conceded that their leader and party have been further damaged despite their expectation that Mr John Bruton will receive a substantial vote of confidence in his leadership this afternoon.
Mr Bruton's supporters were last night predicting a majority of more than four to one in the wake of the surprise tabling of a motion of no confidence yesterday by the Waterford TD, Mr Austin Deasy. The motion will be taken at a special meeting of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party.
Fine Gael said last night that the party's front bench had unanimously endorsed Mr Bruton's leadership at a hastily convened meeting yesterday.
However, it was learned that Mr Michael Noonan made robust complaints at the meeting that he was being frozen out of any role in devising party strategy and policy. Mr Noonan was unavailable for comment last night.
Mr Bruton's supporters and the party's front bench hope that taking the vote early today will minimise the damage to the party, which has just launched a major pre-election publicity campaign.
However, senior sources conceded that reopening the leadership issue might overshadow the party's programme, Plan for the Nation, launched in Dublin last weekend. A significant minority voting against Mr Bruton would further damage his standing and could encourage critics to plan a more organised challenge.
But as of late last night, not one TD, senator or MEP had publicly expressed support for Mr Deasy's motion. Several former opponents of Mr Bruton, including Mr Charles Flanagan, Mr Jim Higgins and Mr Jim O'Keeffe, said that they would support him. Others, such as Mr Alan Dukes and Ms Frances Fitzgerald could not be contacted for comment.