PROCEDURE:THE MEETING of Fianna Fáil TDs today on the party leadership is expected to conclude its business within two to three hours, although no time limit has been set for speeches.
The wording of the motion, released last night by a party spokesman, is as follows: “That the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party has confidence in Brian Cowen TD as leader of Fianna Fáil.”
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 5.30pm provided the Order of Business in the Dáil has concluded by that time. Party sources said they expected it to start by 6pm at the latest.
A full attendance is expected and, although 71 out of the 72 Fianna Fáil TDs (excluding Ceann Comhairle Seamus Kirk) are entitled to vote, Senators may attend but can neither vote nor contribute to the debate.
A senior party source said if all 71 deputies spoke for five minutes the meeting would last six hours. However a wide range of views on the political situation had already been heard at previous meetings.
In procedural terms, Fianna Fáil is entering new ground as this is understood to be the first time a motion of confidence in the leadership has been proposed to the parliamentary party.
There are rules and regulations for proposing motions of no confidence, including the number of signatories required, but they do not apply for motions of confidence.
The meeting will take place at the Fianna Fáil party rooms on the fifth floor of Leinster House. The main room where the debate will take place has portraits of the previous six party leaders on the wall.
A smaller room nearby is likely to be used for counting the votes cast in the secret ballot, and a party source said this would probably be carried out by “two respected members of the parliamentary party”.
The voting figures are not due to be released: the only information to be supplied is whether or not the motion has been passed.
The wording of the motion was not issued until 6pm last night, and details on the proposer and seconder had not been finalised.
Mr Cowen and the main opponent of the motion, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin, are expected to contribute at an early stage of the debate.
The proceedings will be conducted by chairman of the parliamentary party John Browne TD from Wexford, who will read out the motion at the start. Officials from party headquarters will help out by distributing the green ballot papers.
Although it is expected at time of writing that the motion will be approved by a substantial majority, in the event that it is rejected Mr Cowen is likely to step down immediately, with a leadership contest following within a week or so. Procedures for this would first have to be agreed.
Mr Browne said last night he would personally be voting in favour of the motion.
A motion on preparing a question-and-answer brief for election canvassers is also being put to the meeting by Deputy Mary O’Rourke.