Ivana Bacik is likely to become the next leader of the Labour leader in the coming days as TDs have backed her publicly and ruled themself out of the race.
Alan Kelly resigned his position as leader of the party on Wednesday night and said his party colleagues had lost confidence in him.
Party sources said the next leader would be either Ms Bacik, who was only elected a TD last summer, or Dublin Fingal TD, Duncan Smith.
However, Mr Smith ruled himself out and said: “I won't be putting myself forward.
“This is my position now. Personally, I think Ivana Bacik is best placed.
“It's not the right time for me personally, but secondly, and more importantly, I don't believe I'm the best candidate for the job out of the current crop of TDs. So for those reasons, I won't be putting myself forward.”
Labour TD Aodhán Ó Ríordáin who lost out to Alan Kelly in a leadership race in 2020 also ruled himself out and said Ms Bacik has his "full support" to become the next Labour leader.
Mr Kelly will remain a Labour TD for Tipperary but was forced to resign after TDs and Senators were unhappy with his leadership and management style, according to sources.
Mr Smith denied that outsing Mr Kelly was “orchestrated” in any way and added “we have been talking about this for a number of weeks.”
Mr Smith said the party is in a fight for its survival and the party couldn’t escape the fall-out from the Fine Gael-Labour coalition between 2011-2016, which oversaw the introduction of some tough austerity measures.
Mr Smith said: “We weren't moving, we weren't gaining any momentum. We weren't making any momentum and ultimately the legacy of 2011 and 2016 and the catastrophe of being in that government as it has been for the Labour Party was just something we couldn't move on from.”
Mr Smith who was first elected in the 2020 General Election said he along with Sean Sherlock the Cork East TD and Senator Mark Wall went to Alan Kelly to inform him he has lost the confidence of the parliamentary party.
Mr Sherlock and Mr Wall were seen as long-standing allies of Mr Kelly.
Mr Smith said he would not comment or discuss on internal party matters when he was asked by RTÉ if staffing issues contributed to Mr Kelly resigning.
It’s understood there was tension and party members were unhappy over the handling of an appointment made to a background position within the party.
