Progressive Democrat members and councillors are to be given a greater say in the selection of the party's next leader under a plan approved by the party's national executive on Saturday.
Under current rules, the leader is chosen by an electoral college in which the parliamentary party has 40 per cent of the votes, the councillors and national executive have 30 per cent and ordinary members 30 per cent.
However, a six-strong commission, led by former senator John Dardis, has recommended that TDs and senators - now just three-strong - should have no more than 20 per cent if they number five or less, and no more than 25 per cent if they number 11 or more.
The Dardis-led commission's recommendation that the leadership should be open to councillors and senators to contest - thus clearing the way for Senator Fiona O'Malley - was also approved.
However, the proposals must be finally sanctioned by the party's general council at a meeting scheduled to take place in a month's time.
Many in the party still hope that Mary Harney will stay on. However, the national executive has accepted the Dardis view that the party cannot have a double-headed leadership, with one person acting as the figurehead inside the Oireachtas and another outside.
Ms O'Malley said on RTÉ's Week in Politicsprogramme last night that she would relish the chance to lead the party and she hinted that she might move her political base from Dún Laoghaire to Limerick East in order to get back into the Dáil.
