FIANNA FÁIL leader Micheál Martin is scheduled to meet his deputy leader, Éamon Ó Cuív, today to try to sort out the row over the presidential election strategy that is threatening to split the party.
Mr Martin will also meet Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú whose bid to get a presidential nomination prompted a bitter and unconclusive debate, deepening divisions in the parliamentary party.
A number of younger TDs urged Mr Martin over the weekend to confront his critics at a meeting of the parliamentary party tomorrow and ensure that Fianna Fáil stays completely out of the presidential race.
“This is doing the party huge damage and Micheál has to kill it off tomorrow. If that means losing his deputy leader and a few Senators, so be it,” said one frontbench member last night.
At a six-hour party meeting last Thursday Mr Ó Cuív threatened to resign as deputy leader if Mr Martin went ahead with a motion that would have prevented Fianna Fáil TDs and Senators from nominating any presidential candidate.
The issue was deferred until tomorrow and Mr Martin has been making efforts over the weekend to see if a solution can be found.
He spoke by phone to Mr Ó Murchú yesterday and he will meet the Senator today to discuss his presidential ambitions.
Mr Martin will also meet Mr Ó Cuív to see if their differences can be resolved but there was no indication last night a compromise was in sight.
“The majority of the parliamentary party don’t want Labhrás to contest the office and that feeling is now stronger after the entry of Martin McGuinness into the race,” said one Martin supporter.
The fear is that the Senator would get a fraction of the vote that McGuinness will win.
There is also a fear that if some Fianna Fáil TDs and Senators are allowed to nominate Mr Ó Murchú, others will come under pressure to nominate Senator David Norris.
The expectation is that Mr Martin will try to shut down the controversy tomorrow by putting the issue to a vote at the parliamentary party if a compromise cannot be found.
Mr Norris’s renewed campaign to get on the ballot paper will suffer a blow if Fianna Fáil decides not to allow TDs and Senators to nominate a candidate.
While a number of left-wing TDs confirmed yesterday that they would be supporting his nomination, he will probably need some Fianna Fáil support to get a nomination.
Six TDs who originally supported Mr Norris before he dropped out of the election are likely to continue that support. These are Maureen O’Sullivan and John Crown, who confirmed they would be nominating Mr Norris when contacted yesterday, and Catherine Murphy, Stephen Donnelly, Mick Wallace and Seán Barrett who were unavailable for comment.
Independent TDs who once supported Mr Norris but no longer do include Dublin North Central TD Finian McGrath, Donegal South West TD Thomas Pringle and Waterford TD John Halligan.
The Norris campaign has received a boost with the decision of some left-wing TDs to support his nomination. People Before Profit TDs Joan Collins and Richard Boyd Barrett have both committed to facilitating Mr Norris’ nomination as have Socialist Party TDs Joe Higgins and Clare Daly.
Ms Collins told The Irish Times that they would nominate Mr Norris as there was “no real left alternative” remaining.
Sinn Féin candidate Martin McGuinness launched his campaign in Dublin yesterday, saying that the institutions of the State such as An Garda Síochána would have his 100 per cent support.
The Deputy First Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive said some people would try and drag him back into the past during the campaign but he was determined to remain focused on the future.
Pointing to his recent political record he said: “If I can work with Ian Paisley and Peter Robinson, I can work with anyone.”
Mr McGuinness said that he had “every confidence that the peace process will be strengthened by my participation in the presidential election” and said his campaign would be open to all.
“I will be a people’s president. A president for a new republic in a new time, he added.