Odds slashed on Barry Cowen being the next leader of Fianna Fail

The odds on Barry Cowen following in his brother Brian's footsteps and becoming leader of Fianna Fail have been slashed.

A new Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks opinion poll made troubled reading for the Fianna Fáil leader with the party lagging behind both Sinn Féin (35%) and Fine Gael (20%) despite their share of support rising one point to 17%.

Now speculation on a successor to Martin as party leader is on the up and Barry Cowen is being backed as a possible contender after he tabled a motion at an internal Fianna Fáil meeting last week questioning their performance in government.

The Laois-Offaly TD has been cut into 6/1 from 12/1 by BoyleSports making him the fourth most likely successor behind long-time favourite Jim O’Callaghan.

The Dublin Bay South TD remains the frontrunner should a vacancy arise, but his odds of 6/5 at the start of the year have eased out to 2/1.

The full betting is as follows

2/1 Jim O'Callaghan

3/1 Michael McGrath

5/1 James Lawless

6/1 Barry Cowen

10/1 Dara Calleary

11/1 Thomas Byrne

12/1 Norma Foley

14/1 Niall Collins

16/1 Darragh O'Brien

20/1 Jack Chambers