Senior Labour TD Willie Penrose, whose constituency holds one of the party's largest membership bases, has come out in support of Minister of Social Protection Joan Burton ahead of the first leadership debate tonight.

The Longford-Westmeath deputy, who is influential in the party and has a strong constituency operation, last night told The Irish Times he would be supporting Ms Burton in the contest to succeed Eamon Gilmore as Labour leader and Tánaiste.

Ms Burton and her opponent Alex White, the Minister of State for Health, will take part in the first leadership hustings tonight, an event which also sees the deputy leadership contenders debate each other.

‘Clear language’

Mr White’s spokesman said the Dublin South deputy would set out in “clear, articulate and unambigious language” where the party is and what it needs to do, a statement that will be seen as a criticism of Ms Burton’s debating style.

The membership base in Longford-Westmeath is one of the biggest in Labour, and both leadership positions are decided by a one-member, one-vote election.

While party sources say the rank-and-file members do not necessarily follow the lead of their local TDs, Mr Penrose said the majority of people he had spoken to in the Longford-Westmeath organisation supported Ms Burton.

“I will be supporting Joan Burton,” Mr Penrose said. “They are both very good candidates, but most of the people I spoke to will be supporting Joan Burton.”

Mr Penrose said he had consulted widely among the membership in his constituency.

“Some of them will wait for the hustings but many of those I have spoken to will be supporting Joan Burton.”

Grassroots support

He said he had spoken to over 60 members before showing his hand, and estimated there were about 300 members in his constituency. The total number of people entitled to vote should be about 5,000, but it is not expected that all will cast their ballots.

The first of the Labour Party leadership hustings will take place in the Radisson Hotel Dublin Airport this evening, and Mr White’s camp see it as crucial in establishing him as a credible party leader.

“It is no secret that Joan has wanted to be leader for some time,” Mr White’s spokesman said. “She is a known quantity. Our job is to convince people coming out of the meeting tonight to see Alex as a potential leader.”

The spokesman said that while it was necessary for Labour to put on the “jacket of Government” it must talk about itself in the coming weeks .

Similarly, Mr White must temporarily “stop being a junior minister and start being a potential leader of the Labour Party” with a “clear articulation” of where the party needed to go.

Tonight's hustings will be the first in a series of five organised by party headquarters, with other debates organised by unions and organisations such as Labour Women, with a possible Prime Time television debate also taking place later this week.

Tonight’s hustings begin at 7.30pm and open with the four candidates for deputy leadership – Alan Kelly, Michael McCarthy, Séan Sherlock and Ciara Conway – addressing the meeting for six minutes each, followed by a question and answer session.

Ms Burton and Mr White will have 10 minutes each to set out their positions, also followed by questions from the floor.

Each of the two candidates will be given equal time to respond, and Labour chairwoman Lorraine Mulligan will chair the event.

The hustings will run no longer than three hours.