Benefits in presidential campaign

It is not just because Mary McAleese has been a bland and uninspiring President that she should be challenged in November. Nor is it just because the office of president can be a symbol of and a force for change - although with Mary McAleese, the office is neither a symbol of anything nor a force for anything.

It is also because a presidential election campaign itself is an opportunity to mobilise support for a different Ireland, a more just Ireland. Even if Mary McAleese is re-elected - and that is not inevitable - a vigorous campaign on the theme of a fairer society could be politically effective.

That campaign could focus on the radical unfairness of Irish society, where amid the profusion of vast fortunes accumulated in the last 10 years, there remains such deprivation. And, by the way, a great many of these vast fortunes have been made not from creating jobs and opportunities for other people, thus shortening the dole queues, but from property development.

Take the following example of unfairness: one in every four households and one in every five people in Ireland are living below the poverty line. And let me state what I mean by the poverty line: I mean living on less than €180 a week for a single adult and below €420 a week for two adults and two children. Most of those who sneer at the "poverty industry" would spend €180 on a night out and well over €420 on a weekend away.

The number of people living in poverty as I have defined it is over 700,000. In a recent report the Economic and Social Research Institute said: "There can be no doubt that its \ depth has been increasing and the disparity between the poor and the non-poor has been widening over time."

Well over half the households living in poverty include children. Almost one in every four children live in poverty, that is over 250,000 children. Nearly 45 per cent of people aged over 65 live in poverty, as I have defined it.

Take another issue of unfairness. This time it concerns the most vulnerable people in Irish society. In the 2002 report of the Inspector of Mental Hospitals the following comment is made on page 11: "The Inspectorate remains unhappy with the general level of documentary recording in our mental health services.

"Too often, case record structure is extremely poor, with the record disorganised in every possible way, without sequence, and with missing information of the most fundamental nature. Consequently, it is often impossible to ascertain the date of a patient's admission to, or discharge from, in-patient care from the case notes to determine a patient's legal status."

The report goes on to say there were 19 sudden in-patient deaths in psychiatric hospitals during 2002. Most of these were from natural causes. However, on page 14 it says: "In one case the level of a psychotropic drug present was regarded as at toxic level."

It continues: "Another death was due to aspiration of food material in a patient with deficient swallowing capacity and in another case the post- mortem examination was inconclusive as to the cause of death."

It further reveals that in 2001 a patient in the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum, Dublin, died shortly after being restrained. The report says: "The matter was, during 2002, the subject of Garda investigation. This investigation has now concluded and a file is with the Director of Public Prosecutions."

What is it about our society that the most vulnerable - whether they be people suffering from mental illness, Travellers, refugees, the homeless, lone parents, people in poverty - are the most disregarded? What is it about this present Government that the most vulnerable are the targets for special disparagement?

Isn't there a case for a campaign that focuses on the scale of this unfairness, that heightens awareness of it and that mobilises political support to do something about it? A presidential campaign could do that in a way that others cannot because of the plethora of issues that clog up general election campaigns.

Fine Gael has opted out already but the hesitancy of the Labour Party is surprising. Labour is right to be cautious about the candidature of Michael D. Higgins. He is passionate about issues of fairness but his delightfully quixotic personality might detract from a focus on such issues. And the apprehension that he would be badly defeated by Mary McAleese is well founded, I believe. But how about Ivana Bacik? She would represent a new agenda for Ireland and, in the process, give Mary McAleese a run for her money.

And if Labour demurs, then the Greens should step in. Eamon Ryan, the TD for Dublin South, would be a plausible contender, as would Deirdre de Burca, the party's councillor in Wicklow. A presidential campaign would also do wonders for the Greens' future electoral prospects.

And then there is Gerry Adams - Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces? At least he has the experience.