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LAST UPDATE | 9 Sep 2025
(Note: Jim Gavin subsequently won the vote, for the latest read here)
FIANNA FÁIL TDS, MEPs and Senators will cast their votes this morning 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. A result is expected around 1pm.
Both spoke briefly to reporters as they made their way in.
Kelleher arrived ahead of Gavin and downplayed the turmoil within the party following Micheál Martin’s decision to back Gavin.
Few words from Jim Gavin as he makes his way into Leinster House this morning to make his presidential pitch to the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party.
— Jane Matthews (@janeematthews) September 9, 2025
He says he’s been up and down the length of the country and has seen great energy. Adds that competition is a good thing. pic.twitter.com/9f4iCKZ1Q6
“I just wanted to get into the field to debate the issues, discuss the issues with colleagues,” he said, adding that the broader the input from the party, the better.
Gavin told reporters that he has travelled the length of the country in recent weeks to garner support from party members, adding that he believes competition is a good thing.
Kelleher’s decision to throw his hat in the ring last month came as a late surprise in the Fianna Fáil race and prevents 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.
The party had opened a nomination process which required a potential candidate to secure the support of at least five members of the parliamentary party.
As that process closed last week, Kelleher had secured far fewer public endorsements from Fianna Fail TDs, senators and MEPs than Gavin.
To secure the nomination, the winning candidate must get the support of 36 members of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party.
Some 32 individuals have not yet publicly declared how they intend to vote, while Gavin has garnered 32 endorsements, and Kelleher has just six.
A source close to Kelleher told The Journal that the feeling is that it is Jim Gavin’s to lose at this point, but that they suspect there are potentially a handful of parliamentary party members who have declared their support for Gavin publicly, but who may privately vote for Kelleher.
This is because there is a feeling of unhappiness among some in Fianna Fáil over a perception that leader Micheál Martin has dictated who the party’s nominee should be, with little input from members.
Over the course of the last week, Gavin has been calling parliamentary party members in a bid to shore up support.
Despite this, many TDs who spoke to The Journal said they still feel like he is an untested quantity.
“We know nothing about him,” one TD said, adding that there is a genuine fear within the party because of this.
“This is a big day for Micheál,” the same TD said.
The view of some in the party is that party leader and Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, is taking a gamble on Gavin and that if the secret ballot result shows a split between the two candidates, it will be bad news for Martin’s leadership.
Others, however, shared Martin’s view and said the party has to be pragmatic in who it chooses to represent it in the presidential election.
“We can’t spend €500,000 on a campaign with a candidate that is only going to appeal to Fianna Fáil voters,” the TD said.
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