There is some support among Sinn Féin parliamentarians for the party to back Independent candidate Catherine Connolly in the presidential election, a number of its representatives have privately confirmed.
However, the decision on whether Sinn Féin will field its own candidate or back the Galway West TD as part of a united left coalition will be decided by the party’s ruling ard chomhairle next week.
That decision will be taken on foot of a report from the powerful national officers board, composed of the party leadership and senior officials, expected to be presented next week. The board’s recommendations are rarely not followed.
A number of parliamentarians who spoke on Tuesday, on the condition of anonymity, say the board has not reached a final decision. It is understood that approaches have been made to the party’s spokeswoman on enterprise Rose Conway-Walsh about her possible candidacy. When asked yesterday, the Mayo TD said she would make no comment on the matter.
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At least five of the party’s TDs have spoken at internal party meetings in favour of Ms Connolly’s candidacy, according to party sources.
There was some uncertainty within Sinn Féin about her position on a united Ireland, which has subsided since the launch of her campaign.
“What she has said publicly reassured me,” said a Sinn Féin source. “My own view is that we should back her as part of a united left campaign. We would need to have a really good candidate of our own to convince me otherwise.”
Separately, a large number of Fianna Fáil TDs have backed South MEP Billy Kelleher’s call for an urgent meeting of its parliamentary party to discuss its strategy on the presidential election.
Mr Kelleher said the first meeting of party TDs, senators and MEPs is not currently scheduled until mid-September.
“To my mind, this is too late in the day for the people who will ultimately be tasked with selecting a party candidate to meet to discuss the issue,” he said.
Mr Kelleher wrote on the issue on Tuesday to party chairman Brendan Smith, who passed the letter on to Government chief whip Mary Butler. Asked if the party would be convening an early meeting, she replied: “The Taoiseach has stated he will make the position clear at the end of the month.”
There is overwhelming support among Fianna Fáil parliamentarians for the party to run its own candidate. Both Mr Kelleher and his European Parliament colleague Barry Andrews expressed that view on Tuesday.
Dublin MEP Mr Andrews said if the party did not run a candidate it would give Fianna Fáil councillors latitude to facilitate Independent candidates.
“If we don’t go down that road [of choosing a Fianna Fáil candidate], you end up with Independent candidates coming into the field. And I think Fianna Fáil would then have to choose what’s in the best interest of our political agenda when we choose candidates.”
