Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has said the party will investigate Mary Hanafin's open defiance of its recommendation that she should not submit nomination papers for the local elections, after initially being asked to do so.

Mr Martin said Ms Hanafin “chose to ignore” the party’s “well understood and long standing ratification process” when she defied him to submit her nomination papers on Saturday.

He said it was with “great disappointment” that he learned Ms Hanafin had gone ahead and submitted her papers for the Blackrock ward of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.

Ms Hanafin this morning said she was asked to withdraw by Mr Martin on three separate occasions, but could see no need for doing so.

She claimed she had been given good political reasons for running - to secure two seats in the six seater ward - but no good reasons to stand aside.

However, in a statement this afternoon, Mr Martin said: “Mary Hanafin’s refusal to respect the process and openly defy the clearly expressed decision of the national constituencies committee will now be referred to the Ard Chomhairle’s rules and procedures committee for investigation and ruling.”

The party’s frontbench discussed the matter this morning and sources said Mr Martin was tackled about the weekend’s events by a number of his senior TDs, who criticised how it had been handled.

Mr Martin's statement added:"It was with great disappointment that we learned that Mary Hanafin, a party member of many years' standing, chose to ignore Fianna Fáil's well understood and long standing ratification process when she proceeded to submit nomination papers for the Blackrock local election area despite very clear instructions from the national constituencies committee that Fianna Fáil would be proceeding with a one candidate strategy."

Ms Hanafin had been told by the party on Friday that it would only be running one candidate, 28-year-old Kate Feeney, and was asked not to submit her papers, and Mr Martin said it is "of central importance is that candidates and potential candidates respect these procedures and rules and accept the fact that they apply to all candidates equally.

“In the meantime, the party will continue to campaign for the properly ratified candidate in Blackrock, Kate Feeney. Kate, the directly elected president of Ógra Fianna Fáil is a new voice in politics and will make an excellent councillor if elected.”