Former MEP Ms Dana Rosemary Scallon has made contact with four county councils to determine whether they would support her nomination in a presidential election. Arthur Beesley, Political Reporter reports
With Mrs McAleese set this week to nominate herself for a second seven-year term in Áras an Uachtaráin, Ms Scallon moved at the weekend to sound out a number of councillors in advance of a possible bid for the presidency.
Ms Scallon faces her first significant test this afternoon when Mayo County Council considers a motion to nominate her.
With candidates needing the support of four local authorities or 20 Oireachtas members to stand, she made tentative contact over the weekend with county councillors in Galway, Kerry and Clare. Only one of these, Kerry, backed Ms Scallon when she unsuccessfully contested the 1997 presidential election.
While the Labour party is widely expected this week to rule itself out of a contest for the presidency, Ms Scallon's decision to canvass local councillors suggests that an election may yet take place on October 22nd.
Given Fianna Fáil's support for Mrs McAleese, backing from Fine Gael would be crucial for Ms Scallon.
However, there were indications last night that councillors in Fine Gael were resisting Ms Scallon's efforts to secure their support. It is understood that the former Fine Gael TD, Cllr Madeleine Taylor Quinn, told Ms Scallon yesterday that the party's councillors on Clare County Council would not vote en masse to support her nomination.
Fine Gael will not contest a presidential election and its leader, Mr Enda Kenny, has indicated his willingness to support Mrs McAleese.
While senior Fine Gael sources said Mr Kenny had not directed councillors in the party to withhold support from Ms Scallon, the sources doubted that its members on Mayo County Council would back her bid.
The party whip on the council, Mr Paddy McGuinness, said Ms Scallon had approached him on Friday, seeking support for her nomination.
"All I'm doing is putting forward the position that people should not be prevented from standing in elections, whether they're foolish enough or whatever," he said.
While Ms Scallon has complained that some local authorities might have to schedule emergency meetings to consider her nominations, the regular monthly meetings of the other three councils take place before nominations close on October 1st.
The Mayor of Galway, Mr Willie Burke (Ind), said yesterday that Ms Scallon had spoken to him on Saturday to establish whether Galway County Council would consider a motion to nominate her at its meeting on September 27th.
Mr Burke said this would be considered at a meeting of the non-Government technical group on the council on September 20th.
Despite doubts in senior Fine Gael circles that the party's councillors would back Ms Scallon, the party leader on Galway County Council indicated said he would look favourably at her bid for a nomination.
Mr Jarlath McDonagh said: "I'd hope if she approached us that we'd be facilitating her by putting it on the agenda. She's living in Galway. That's the least we could do."
An Independent Killarney-based councillor, Mr Brendan Cronin, said that Ms Scallon had contacted his home yesterday to assess the possibility of the technical group in Kerry County Council backing her nomination.
Neither Ms Scallon nor her spokesman responded yesterday to calls. Ms Scallon told The Irish Times on Friday that she had not contacted any local councillors.
While known as an anti-abortion campaigner, her camp indicated previously that she would campaign, if nominated, against the draft EU constitutional treaty because she believes it would supersede the Irish Constitution.