A FIANNA FÁIL councillor has said her party’s method of choosing its presidential nominee is “simply not fair”.

Cork councillor Deirdre Kelly added that Fianna Fáil should have implemented a “one member, one vote” process.

Fianna Fáil TDs, MEPs and Senators will this morning cast their votes in a secret ballot to decide whether MEP Billy Kelleher or outside choice Jim Gavin will be their presidential election candidate. 

Voting is set to get underway at 11.30 am in Leinster House, with both Gavin and Kelleher making a 10-minute pitch each beforehand. 

Kelleher’s decision to throw his hat in the ring last month came as a late surprise in the Fianna Fáil race and prevented a de facto coronation of leader Micheál Martin’s choice for the job, former Dublin GAA manager Jim Gavin. 

It’s understood that Martin favours Gavin because he believes a candidate from outside the party and day-to-day politics will fare better among the public. 

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, councillor Kelly said that at a Fianna Fáil meeting of Cork councillors yesterday, councillor Bernard Moynihan asked to discuss the nomination process.

Kelly said that it was then decided that councillors would “send an email to the our parliamentary party colleagues”.

She noted that Fianna Fáil’s ard fheis in 2012 backed the “one member, one vote” process around election candidates.

“We did have a one member one vote process for the program for government in 2020,” added Kelly, “so there is no reason why it could not have been implemented on this occasion also.”

Kelly said other councils have been raising similar concerns.

However, she added that the concern is “not just in relation to councillors, all members have been disenfranchised in relation to this process, and it’s simply not fair”.

Meanwhile, Kelly said councillors are “very familiar with” Kelleher and that he’s “always been there for us on a local level”.

“We feel that he is the candidate that we wanted to back, but we haven’t had the opportunity to do so.”

She also claimed that the majority of councillors “don’t know anything” about Gavin apart from his footballing background and that she looks forward to “putting our concerns to him” should he receive the nomination.

To become a presidential nominee, a candidate must either be nominated by 20 members of the Oireachtas, or nominated by at least four local authorities.

While Fine Gael has instructed its councillors not to support any independent candidates who are seeking the nomination of councils, Kelly said Fianna Fáil councillors have not yet “heard anything in relation to that at this point”.

She added: “I personally think that once we have chosen our own candidate, we wouldn’t be choosing anybody else.

“I don’t see the point in implementing a whip at that point, once we’ve chosen our own candidate.”

Kerry County Council yesterday held a special meeting to hear from candidates seeking its support, with Nick Delehanty, Gareth Sheridan, and Maria Steen among those addressing councillors.

It will decide next week whether to back any candidate.

Meanwhile, Councillors in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and Mayo County Council have voted against nominating anyone for president.

In Mayo, Aontú councillor Deirdre Lawless proposed that the council nominate Maria Steen.

However, the vote was defeated by 19 votes to five, with two absenting.

The Presidential Election will take place on Friday, 24 October, with Independent Galway TD Catherine Connolly and former Fine Gael TD Heather Humphreys the only two confirmed candidates to date.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald yesterday ruled herself out of the running and said the party is undecided on whether to nominate its own candidate or to back Connolly.