Former minister for foreign affairs Micheál Martin said today he was confident he had the numbers to win the Fianna Fáil leadership vote on Wednesday.
The four candidates seeking to succeed Brian Cowen, who resigned as party leader on on Saturday, are Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan, Minister for Social Protection Éamon Ó Cuív, Minister for Tourism Mary Hanafin and Mr Martin.
Nominations closed this afternoon.
A special meeting of the parliamentary party will be convened at 2.00pm on Wednesday in Leinster House to elect the new leader. The vote will be by proportional representation, which means the quota will be half the total number of votes, plus one.
Speaking on Cork’s 96FM today, Mr Martin described the response to his phone canvassing as being “very good" and said it was healthy to have more than one candidate in the leadership race.
“I find it strange when people say we should all unite in advance of a contest like this. We are more than capable of having a civilised debate in a modern political context about who should lead Fianna Fáil. I think they are all rivals. I don’t want to identify which one is the leading candidate - they all bring a different perspective to it.”
Nineteen TDs have already stated in public that they will support Mr Martin, a higher figure than the combined number of TDs who have declared for his rivals. A source close to Mr Martin’s campaign claimed last night that more than half of the 71 Fianna Fáil TDs who are eligible to vote have already pledged support for him.
Privately, his rivals have conceded that Mr Martin has taken a strong early lead in the battle to succeed Brian Cowen, but they say that there is a large number of TDs who are undecided. However, several TDs, not all of whom are supporting Mr Martin, said last night they expected Mr Martin to win by a substantial margin.
Mr Martin was always expected to win strong support in his Cork base and throughout Munster. However, despite the presence of two Dublin-based candidates – Ms Hanafin and Mr Lenihan – he has gained the backing of several TDs in the capital including Seán Haughey, Seán Ardagh and Chris Andrews. Former minister Willie O’Dea has also declared for him, and Minister of State Dara Calleary is also expected to support him.
Ms Hanafin specifically requested her supporters not to declare themselves publicly yesterday. Her only known supporters are Cabinet Minister Pat Carey and Máire Hoctor.
Two Ministers of State, Seán Connick and Martin Mansergh, have said they will vote for Mr Lenihan, as has Mary O’Rourke. Conor Lenihan is expected to support his brother.
Mr Ó Cuív has pledges of support from Michael Kitt and Frank Fahey, both from Galway, and Sligo TD Eamon Scanlon. Several TDs said yesterday they expected Mr Ó Cuív to perform strongly. Mr Ó Cuív said he was confident he would win some of that support from the so-called middle ground.
Mr Cuív today said he believes the race is still “open” and could be “fought to the line”. While acknowledging Mr Martin had “good, solid support”, he said that the unpredictable element was the “middle ground” view.
The Galway West TD cancelled several public engagements in Galway city today but spoke on local radio.
One of the candidates yesterday pointed out that since the contest would be decided by proportional representation, much would depend on which way a large block of undecided TDs – numbering 15 to 20 – would vote. Many of these TDs backed Mr Cowen in the confidence motion last week and have not yet indicated their intentions.