Mr Enda Kenny will today outline his plans for Fine Gael as an eight-day campaign to replace the deposed leader, Mr John Bruton, gets under way.
The clear front-runner, Mr Michael Noonan, is not expected to give details of his platform until Monday, while the party whip, Mr Charles Flanagan, said yesterday that he would decide tomorrow whether to join the race.
Mr Jim Mitchell's campaign manager, Mr Gerry Reynolds, said last night that their campaign would not begin until Monday, the day nominations close. There is continuing speculation over whether Mr Mitchell will run himself or as an agreed deputy leadership candidate with Mr Noonan.
The Fine Gael parliamentary party yesterday agreed that the vote would take place next Friday morning at Leinster House, giving alternative candidates to Mr Noonan and Mr Mitchell time to campaign. However, at this stage nobody within the party is predicting that Mr Noonan can be beaten.
In a surprise move, Mr Ivan Yates, a senior member of the Fine Gael front bench, yesterday told party colleagues that he would take no part in any of the campaigns and would not serve on the next Fine Gael front bench, no matter who wins the leadership election. Mr Yates was a key supporter of Mr Bruton but could have expected to be given a senior post by whoever wins next week.
Mr Yates is understood to have told Mr Noonan of his decision, saying that he wants to concentrate on his business and other interests.
Mr Noonan meanwhile promised to implement a major policy shift on Northern Ireland, returning Fine Gael to the pronationalist position it occupied in the 1980s. While not criticising Mr Bruton's record on the issue, he clearly signalled that he would abandon the position of neutrality between unionists and nationalists which formed the basis of Mr Bruton's approach.
He said that Fine Gael's stance on Northern Ireland had been "grossly misunderstood" under Mr Bruton. This contrasted with the position when, under Dr Garret FitzGerald and Mr Peter Barry, "SDLP supporters in Northern Ireland looked to Fine Gael as the party that they had an affinity with in the South".
"Fine Gael are a nationalist party," Mr Noonan continued. "We're a party with the generous nationalism that has given rise to the Good Friday agreement, and I would certainly ensure that our position is not misunderstood."
Mr Bruton did not attend yesterday's Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting, at which many members paid generous tributes to his leadership.