The Labour Party and the Green Party will hold talks today on Labour supporting Green Party TD Mr Eamon Ryan's nomination to run for the presidency. Mark Hennessy, Political Correspondent, reports
The move follows the decision by Labour's National Executive Council (NEC) yesterday to vote 13-12 not to contest the presidential election.
The Labour Party leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, also bluntly warned the NEC not to challenge his judgment about future decisions on the issue.
The debate about Labour's participation in the race was "courteous and civilised", but matters became acrimonious after the result was announced.
During a brief but extraordinary exchange at the close, trades' union delegate Mr Frank Barry sought a debate on Labour's future attitude to Mr Ryan. Extremely annoyed, Mr Rabbitte said he would regard this as a challenge to his leadership, sources have told The Irish Times.
"He said: 'You will have to trust me to deal with this in a tactical fashion in the interests of the Labour Party. If you don't have that confidence, then let's have that discussion now'," said one source.
Some NEC delegates were earlier irritated by the decision to postpone a discussion about Fine Gael/Labour's "Mullingar Accord", a coalition pact on Westmeath County Council.
The pact, though insignificant in content, was launched with great fanfare by Mr Rabbitte and the Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, even though the NEC was not told in advance.
Speaking later, Mr Rabbitte made clear that Labour would offer Oireachtas signatures to Mr Ryan if he were short of the 20 necessary - only nine Labour TDs are considering doing so.
However, he said this support would not include money. "For God's sake, if I was prepared to do that I would be supporting Michael D Higgins, and we would be running a Labour campaign."
Rejecting charges that Labour was divided, he said the closeness of the result could be put down to the "esteem" in which the Galway West politician was held by the party.
However, Mr Higgins chided Labour TDs who raised doubts about his health over the summer. "I think they suffered from a temporary lack of energy and courage."
Criticising the President, Mrs McAleese, for a lack of vision, he said she had failed to speak on global issues such as security, trade, debt and UN reform.
"She said that she sees herself as an ambassador and an icon for Ireland. Well, the Department of Foreign Affairs appoints ambassadors and icons are statues."
On Wednesday, the Greens irritated Labour by calling for swift action from Labour TDs following their "rejection" of Mr Higgins.
Yesterday, the Greens repeatedly apologised over the use of the word "rejection".
"We are putting it down to a blunder," said a top Labour figure.
Paying tribute to Mr Higgins, Mr Ryan said he "very much regretted" that Mr Higgins would not be contesting the election, due to take place on October 22nd.
He said: "Michael D Higgins has been an inspiration to me and to many other people, particularly on issues of social justice both at home and internationally."
The Green Party's National Council will meet in Clonakilty, Co Cork, on Saturday to make a decision on Mr Ryan's ambitions, though it is clear that the grassroots are keener than some of the national figures.
During an RTÉ interview yesterday, Mr Ryan admitted he had smoked cannabis in his youth, though he said he did not do so now, and he would "of course" not do so if elected to the presidency.
Former Labour TD Mr Declan Bree, who seconded the motion for contesting the election, said of the NEC decision: "I think we missed a golden opportunity."