Talks have taken place within FF about accommodating Bailey, a councillor in Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown, and his daughter Maria, also a councillor. Party sources say both Bertie Ahern and the senior FF TD in Dun Laoghaire, education minister Mary Hanafin, are aware of the development.

Bailey yesterday denied any intention to defect.

"That is totally untrue. I have had no discussions with anybody in Fianna Fail. There is nothing happening." He said there was no approach to his daughter either.

However, this newspaper has established that contact has been made between high-ranking members in the party and an individual close to Bailey.

Bailey is a former chairman of Dublin GAA county board, and attracts a significant personal vote.

He topped the poll in Dun Laoghaire in the 2004 local elections, when his daughter Maria was also elected in Ballybrack. Last May, he was part of a threecandidate strategy in the Dun Laoghaire constituency with a view to winning back the two seats FG had held before the 2002 election. The strategy backfired and only Sean Barrett was elected. Bailey received 4,309 first-preference votes.