The trustees of the Progressive Democrats believed that Mary Harney intended to step down as leader before the next election, according to a letter from them read out at last Tuesday's crisis meeting of the parliamentary party.
The letter referred to the "dysfunctional relationship" between Ms Harney and Cabinet colleague Michael McDowell, and appealed to them to settle their differences in the interests of the party and the country.
The Irish Times has confirmed the details of the letter from the trustees to the Tánaiste, which was read to the meeting by Paul Mackay, a founder of the party and its longest-serving trustee.
It was written after a meeting the night before at which Ms Harney confirmed that she intended to lead the PDs into the next election, despite earlier indications that she was going to step down from the position.
The letter outlined a sequence of events that began last Saturday when Ms Harney went to the chairman of the organisation, Peter Wyer, to tell him that she intended to lead the Progressive Democrats into the next election.
She then met the trustees on Monday night to inform them of her decision and in response they drafted a letter to her outlining the position facing the party.
The letter referred to the "dysfunctional relationship" between Ms Harney and Mr McDowell and said that Ms Harney had told them on Monday night that she and Mr McDowell could not remain in Cabinet together "for much longer".
In the letter, the trustees asked the Tánaiste for an explanation of that statement and reminded her that she had said she would not be leading the party into the election and had changed her mind about the timing of her departure.
It also referred to the fact that she had told Mr Wyer of her change of mind last Saturday but pointed out that neither the trustees nor Mr McDowell had been told about that decision in advance.
They warned her that her decision could make Mr McDowell's position untenable and they added that if he was lost to the party, they would resign.
The letter came as the biggest and final shock at the meeting which had already heard Mr McDowell outline his frustration at the fact Ms Harney had changed her mind about stepping down as leader before the next election.
The appeal by the trustees to the party's leading figures to patch up their differences reflected the mood of the meeting and, while it was generally accepted that Ms Harney had given indications of her intention to step down, the view of the meeting was that it would be suicidal for the party to engage in a leadership struggle at this stage.
The view of the majority was that she should continue on as leader, if that is what she had made up her mind to do. A number of people said it would be madness to have a row over the leadership while others urged Ms Harney to continue as leader as being the best option for the party in any case.
The meeting divided into three groups: those who supported Ms Harney, those who backed Mr McDowell, and those who wanted the issue put on ice until after the election.
During the debate the supporters of Mr McDowell claimed that Ms Harney had set three deadlines for stepping down but had postponed each one before finally informing Mr Wyer last Saturday and the trustees on Monday that she was not going to depart.
The dates cited were the 20th anniversary of the party last December, a date before the party conference in April, and finally the 25th anniversary of her election to the Dáil on June 11th, 1981.
It only became clear to Mr McDowell that she was not going to step down when she spoke to Mr Wyer last Saturday.
