TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen’s leadership of Fianna Fáil is unlikely to be challenged in the immediate aftermath of the budget, according to a number of TDs who no longer support his leadership.
Most TDs, who spoke on condition of anonymity, accepted it would not be possible to gather the signatures of 18 TDs that would be necessary to mount a leadership challenge. While one of them said a renewed effort would be made this week to see whether enough TDs would support a leadership motion, others said they could not envisage it happening.
One senior source in the party said yesterday that Mr Cowen had no interest in relinquishing either his position as Taoiseach or as leader of Fianna Fáil in advance of a general election.
“The Taoiseach has said he wants to see the party through a general election. If there is a motion and if there are 18 signatures, he will deal with it. But as of now, he intends to lead the party into the election,” said the source.
A number of Ministers – Mary Hanafin, Micheál Martin and Brian Lenihan – are known to be interested in the leadership, but all who have stated their ambition publicly have said they will wait until there is a vacancy. That has been taken as a signal they will not challenge Mr Cowen as long as he wishes to stay in the position.
There has also been an expectation among some TDs for some months, said one deputy, that the budget would prove a watershed moment and that Mr Cowen would voluntarily step down once it had been delivered to the Dáil.
“On the day after the budget, a few of us will begin canvassing people again. There will be a heavy emphasis on getting rid of him between now and January,” said a dissident TD. Others who no longer support Mr Cowen expressed doubt as to whether this could be achieved. They said the only way the Taoiseach would step down was if he were persuaded by senior colleagues.
Speaking in Cork yesterday, Mr Martin reiterated his interest in leading Fianna Fáil, but insisted he will not mount any challenge to Mr Cowen. He warned that the party faced a major task to reverse its low position in the polls.
He said he had maintained a consistent position that he would be interested in leading the party at some stage in the future if a vacancy arose. “But there isn’t any vacancy and I won’t be precipitating any issue in the future that doesn’t arise now. I will be supporting the Taoiseach in the pathway he has laid forward.”