Senior Fianna Fail sources now believe the former EU Commissioner and MEP, Mr Ray MacSharry, may be persuaded within the next 24 hours to seek a presidential nomination.
Sustained pressure was being exerted on Mr MacSharry last night, including pressure from Cabinet members, to allow his name to go forward at Wednesday's meeting of the Fianna Fail Parliamentary Party.
The Taoiseach is said by senior sources to be maintaining "a strictly neutral stance", and had not discussed the matter with Mr MacSharry.
The former commissioner declined to comment on whether or not he will be a contender, saying only that he is "looking at the speculation and that is all it is at the moment".
In the absence of Mr MacSharry, Mr Albert Reynolds TD would be expected to win the nomination. Sources speculated that should Mr MacSharry run, the other declared candidate, Mr Michael O'Kennedy, may withdraw.
The Minister for Defence, Mr Andrews, who is in Calcutta for the funeral of Mother Teresa, is not expected to be a candidate. un Laoghaire are thwarting him.
his ambitions.
"There is a dawning realisation among Fianna Fail members, particulary backbenchers, that the Dail sums will not allow a by-election defeat. In that case, they will be taking this fact into account, increasingly, when they reflect on the matter over the coming days," one source said. Meanwhile, Labour sources denied it has asked broadcaster, Ms Marian Finucane to become its candidate. She declined to comment.
The two Fine Gael candidates, Senator Avril Doyle and Ms Mary Banotti MEP, yesterday addressed parliamentary party colleagues in a Dublin hotel.
Ms Doyle said that while much success had been achieved in the "adroit political management" of the economy, a similar surefootedness was not demonstrated with the social agenda. Without the moral vision to seek to build a sustainable and secure future for our children, "politics can become merely a tactical game or a version of insider trading".
"We have witnessed the collapse of standards at the highest level of church and state. The only certainty is change." The incoming President would have to help people face, rather than fear, the future.
Ms Banotti said the public wanted a President "somewhat removed from the hurly-burly of the political process". Fine Gael's choice of candidate should not be seen as a purely party event because "if we look inwards in this way, we will be letting down ourselves and the country".