Following the sensational nomination of Prof Mary McAleese as the Fianna Fail presidential candidate, Mr Albert Reynolds told his party he would not have wanted to be a candidate for "a divided party". As the result of the first vote became known yesterday afternoon, he is also understood to have expressed grave unease at the idea of being a presidential candidate at all in the circumstances.
With the parliamentary party reeling in shock, he made the re mark to Mr Ahern when the first round of votes was counted, showing Mr Reynolds with 49 votes; Prof McAleese with 42 votes, and Mr Michael O'Kennedy with 21 votes. He indicated that even if he managed to secure the necessary 56 votes to win the nomination, he could not hope to be successful in the presidential election if the party was not fully behind his candidacy.
The two-hour meeting began at 11.30 a.m. and the party chairman, Dr Rory O'Hanlon, confirmed that the normal nomination process would be abandoned in favour of a unanimous nomination of all three candidates, a move which would spare embarrassment.
Each of the three was invited to deliver a three-minute address. The only one to arrive with a prepared script, Prof McAleese departed from her notes frequently and, according to sources, spoke impressively of her vision of the eighth Presidency of Ireland - a dream she hoped Fianna Fail "would recognise as its own".
"The Constitution sets a clear agenda for the Presidency but ultimately the role wraps itself around the person and the signs of the times . . . It will be the figurehead of a dynamic Ireland growing more complex by the day, an Ireland in which the prospect of lasting peace based on consensus looks tantalisingly close," she said.
Outlining her background, she said she came out of the North to the party "which more than any other has kept faith with the hopes of the Irish people for a nation of peace . . . to the party which more than any other has been a bridge between rich and poor, town and country, conservative and liberal, North and South, tradition and change".
According to sources, Mr Reynolds was most impassioned when he spoke to the parliamentary party in the wake of the vote. Clearly taken aback at the outcome, he expressed deep disappointment but said they must all leave the room united behind the successful candidate. He pledged his support for Prof McAleese.
A former Minister and EU Commissioner, Mr O'Kennedy also spoke "off the cuff" about the role of the Constitution and the lessons he had learned from his particular heroes in the party from the past, those who had served Fianna Fail and the nation.
When his colleagues voted, they should recall the philosophy of Frank Aiken and not think of the party or the Government or, indeed, him or the other candidates. Instead, they should think of the country when they made their choice. "It was a good speech, a lawyer's speech," one TD said afterwards.
All but one of the 114-member Fianna Fail parliamentary party were eligible to vote for the three candidates in yesterday's ballot at Leinster House. Senator Maurice Hayes, appointed by the Taoiseach to the Upper House, is not taking the whip. Four votes were cast by way of postal ballot.
The drop by one vote in Mr Reynolds's support in the second round - after Mr O'Kennedy's elimination - is explained by the fact that Senator Paddy McGowan had to leave. It appears that all Mr O'Kennedy's votes transferred, without exception, to Prof McAleese.
A Fianna Fail TD and supporter of Mr Reynolds said last night that some of his backers were considering using the procedure which allows a candidate to be nominated by 20 Oireachtas members.Deputies angered by the treatment of Mr Reynolds were said to be investigating the possibility of signing nomination papers but Mr Reynolds was unavailable for comment.