Fine Gael’s executive council is to meet on Monday evening to consider the presidential election campaign as support grows inside and outside of the party for Heather Humphreys to run.
The former minister has yet to decide if she will seek the party’s nomination to contest the election, but has said she is giving the matter “very serious consideration”. She had ruled out the possibility in May.
Ms Humphreys, who did not contest last year’s general election, has emerged as the favourite to replace former MEP Mairead McGuinness, who on Thursday announced she was stepping down as the Fine Gael candidate on health grounds.
The party’s executive council had been expected to meet on Sunday to consider its options, but a spokeswoman confirmed the meeting would instead take place on Monday evening.
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“To tell you the truth, I’m giving a run very serious consideration. I’m using my time to speak to the people I trust and the people who know me best, both inside and outside politics, before I make a final decision,” she said in a statement to the Sunday Independent.
A number of Independent politicians have come out in support of Ms Humphreys running to succeed Michael D Higgins. Ministers of State Michael Healy-Rae, Noel Grealish and Seán Canney have said they would support her candidacy, noting her “broad” appeal and ability to “bring a lot of people together”.
Ms Humphreys is also understood to be the preferred candidate for a number of senior Fine Gael ministers.
In order to be nominated, Ms Humphreys would need the support of at least 20 members of the parliamentary party, 25 councillors and five members of the executive council. It is understood she would easily secure the necessary backing.
Fine Gael MEP Seán Kelly, a former GAA president, on Saturday said he was weighing up his options about seeking the party’s nomination after this week’s news about Ms McGuinness.
He said last month that he would not run, describing it as the “most difficult decision” of his political life, but on Saturday told Newstalk “the goalposts have changed”.
Mr Kelly said the discussion within Fine Gael on who it would now run as its candidate “hasn’t started really” out of respect for Ms McGuinness.
“I think next week will be time enough to reflect properly on that and take action, there’s no rush,” he added.
Fine Gael MEP Regina Doherty, a member of the national executive, said there should be a contest if Mr Kelly and Ms Humphreys both put their names forward.
She told RTÉ’s This Week programme the time to have such a contest ahead of the election in the autumn was “tight”.
“I think we are conscious, obviously, that our original timeline was to officially launch our campaign at the beginning of the second week of September. Obviously, we’re getting very close to that. So time is of the essence,” she said.
She said the process to nominate a new candidate would be officially re-opened at Monday’s national executive meeting and she expected Fine Gael politicians to start publicly declaring for individual candidates after that.
Frances Fitzgerald, a former minister for justice, has said she does not intend to contest the election and on Sunday said Ms Humphreys would “make a fantastic president”.
Independent Galway West TD Catherine Connolly is currently the only candidate who has the required support to appear on the ballot paper.
