FORMER Fianna Fáil minister David Andrews has endorsed the presidential campaign of Labour Party candidate Michael D Higgins.
Mr Andrews confirmed his support when he met Mr Higgins in Galway on Saturday, several hours before the city arts community also gathered to wish him well.
Mr Andrews, who held a number of cabinet posts and retired from the Dáil before the 2002 election, said he was supporting his “long-time friend” in “the absence of a Fianna Fáil candidate”.
Mr Andrews would not be drawn on whether his own party should run a candidate, as he believed this issue was for Fianna Fáil and he was “not in the loop”.
“I’m out of politics now and I’m a very strong supporter of Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin,” Mr Andrews told The Irish Times.
“This Government in my view hasn’t been put to the test, there will be a number of upcoming budgets, times will change and we’ve had an example where Mr Kenny himself has gone from zero to hero,” he said.
He described Fine Gael candidate Gay Mitchell as “an excellent parliamentarian, an excellent representative”.
Mr Andrews recalled the missions abroad that he and Mr Higgins had undertaken, including their unofficial visit to Iraq and Jordan with Fine Gael’s Paul Bradford to lobby for the release of 36 Irish Parc staff held by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein after the Kuwait invasion in 1990.
Mr Andrews also recalled his time in Somalia with Mr Higgins in 1992, and the trips to central America that the then Labour foreign affairs spokesman undertook with his brother, the late Niall Andrews.
“Michael D’s international standing was always well known and it was always great to be with him.”
Mr Higgins in turn recalled the support that Mr Andrews as defence minister had given him, when he was arts minister — including the purchase of Collins Barracks in Dublin for the National Museum of Ireland and the filming of Braveheartin Ireland.
Also on Saturday, a grouping known as "Artists for Michael D" hosted a Galway send-off for Mr Higgins, involving musicians Little John Nee, Seán Tyrrell, Johnny Duhan, Don Stiffe and Mousey McHugh, formerly of the Saw Doctors, who sang a version of Michael D Rocking in the Áras.
Playwright Christian O’Reilly spoke of how Mr Higgins understood the “power of the imagination” and how it could point a way out of the “gloom”, while film-maker Bob Quinn sang a version of Wild Rover with a chorus to “No Nama, no more”.