2011 Irish presidential election "foisted on him and he had not known anything about it and what it would involve". This followed unease among Fianna Fáil parliamentary party Oireachtas members, with a number unhappy that a candidate was being imposed by the leadership without discussion. On 16 August 2011, the "Irish Examiner" reported that Micheál Martin had moved to pull the party out of the presidential race over the fallout from the approach to Gay Byrne, the cost involved and the slim chance of a candidate being elected. On 24 August, however, the party's deputy leader Éamon Ó Cuív told Raidió na Gaeltachta that
2011 Irish presidential election of the single transferable vote", a single-winner election cannot be proportional. All Irish citizens entered on the current electoral register were eligible to vote. Following the general election in February 2011, and subsequent Seanad election, only three political parties had the 20 members of Oireachtas required to nominate a candidate: Fine Gael (76 TDs and 19 senators), the Labour Party (37 TDs and 13 senators) and Fianna Fáil (19 TDs and 14 senators). Sinn Féin, the next largest party in the Dáil Éireann, had 14 TDs and 3 senators. For other candidates to be nominated by Oireachtas members, support would