Billy Kelleher or Jim Gavin? Fianna Fáil to choose presidential election candidate

The Fianna Fáil parliamentary party are set to choose their candidate for the upcoming presidential election.

Former Dublin football manager Jim Gavin will go up against MEP Billy Kelleher.

The secret ballot will take place at Leinster House from 11.30am on Tuesday morning.

Mr Gavin goes into the meeting as the favourite to win the Fianna Fáil nomination with more than 30 members of the parliamentary party backing him privately, along with the public support of the party leader, Taoiseach Micheál Martin.

Supporters of Mr Kelleher think he may have in excess of 20 votes, and that there could be 10 to 12 swing votes – people who aren't publicly declared that could decide this one way or another.

The Ireland South MEP would probably need to get to more than 25 votes for this to become a headache internally for Mr Martin and to signal a real division in Fianna Fáil.

This is the first Fianna Fáil secret ballot for a presidential nomination since 1997 when former taoiseach Albert Reynolds went in as the favourite and Mary McAleese came out as the nominee.

Mr Kelleher said he would be engaging with party colleagues ahead of the vote.

“The purpose of this is to ensure that we have an interrogation of the candidates, that we have an interrogation of ideas and values, and that we put forward a candidate that actually reflects the Fianna Fáil values that we want to take into the campaign.”

Speaking to RTÉ’s Six One News last week, he said: “I think it’s important in a democratic party like Fianna Fáil, that we do have a healthy debate.”

Asked about whether he believes he will be successful, given that Mr Gavin had 31 public endorsements when only 36 is needed for a majority, Mr Kelleher said: “That’s the beauty about the process – in the sense that it is going to be a secret ballot.”

The MEP rejected claims that a vote for him would undermine Mr Martin’s leadership and added that he was unaware of Mr Gavin’s interest when he first approached the idea of running.

Asked if he would not have put himself forward if he had known about the leadership’s support for Mr Gavin, Mr Kelleher said: “I still believe that there should be a contest. I don’t believe in coronations.

“I think we have to get people into the ring. They have to be able to present and articulate their views, to express themselves.”

Pressed on whether he was saying that Mr Gavin could not do that, he replied: “I can only speak for myself. I speak regularly. I engage with colleagues, I have been debating my entire life. I stand on my record.”