Fine Gael candidates set out their stalls
MAIRÉAD McGUINNESS
She says would seek to preserve and develop the legacy of President Mary McAleese and Senator Martin McAleese in supporting the Northern Ireland peace process. “The peace we have is permanent, but it is fragile in places.”
She would champion youth organisations and give a voice and a platform to the young people of Ireland who have a “great fear” about their future.
Her presidency would promote research and innovation and the involvement of young people in that sector and would “champion families at all ages and stages”.
The president should take a particular interest in the welfare of older people and act as “a beacon” to highlight their needs and concerns.
A major element of Ms McGuinness’s vision is to be “a resource to government in helping to rebuild our economy”. Environmental issues would be a major focus, with a view to promoting the tourist and agri-food industries.
She would encourage the use of the Irish language – she plans to take a refresher course in the west this summer.
She would bring a “commitment, conviction and courage” to the job, which she says were demonstrated in her decision to enter the race as early as last April.
AVRIL DOYLE
She says she would bring “gravitas, experience, substance, good judgment and credibility to this most important role”.
As president, she would visit schools, organisations and communities the length and breadth of the country, “to acknowledge their achievements and successes”.
She would help set the national agenda “both at home and abroad”, while fully respecting the constitutional parameters of the presidency.
She would bring new skills and energy to the president’s important role as “trade ambassador” to help restore Ireland’s reputation on the international stage as a country in which to invest, do business and create jobs.
Besides the explicitly prescribed powers that are there, a president can “initiate debate, selectively highlight the work of different interest-groups, publicise issues he or she thinks are important”.
Coming from a family steeped in the Fine Gael tradition, she says she would represent “the very core” of the party’s values of honesty, integrity and decency.
She would “represent the hopes, dreams, difficulties and challenges of our nation at this extraordinary time”.
Of all the four contenders, she adds, “I’m the one who can most credibly represent urban and rural Ireland and all the best traditions of Fine Gael.”
GAY MITCHELL
His presidency would be informed by a Christian Democratic ethos, based on “rights and responsibilities, enterprise and social justice”.
He would stand for unity in diversity among all the people of the island, including those with an Irish, Irish and British or Irish and European identity.
As president, he would seek to influence the power balance in the European Union “by taking time, networking, persuading, meeting and greeting and intelligent argument”. He would play his part in ensuring that Ireland’s views were heard. “I have the experience and the stamina to advance Ireland’s case.”
Part of his role would be to ensure that Ireland gave leadership to the world in promoting the welfare of developing countries.
Making legislation is not the role of the president but he or she, by networking with the community, can make a “visual statement” about the type of inclusive and forward-looking society we could be.
He would promote the spirit of true republicanism in the centenary celebrations of the 1916 Rising.
“From the president’s study in the Áras, the floodlights of the CIÉ works, where I worked as a boy, are visible as a clear landmark. If I am elected president, this landmark shall be a daily reminder of where I came from and that my sworn duty is to serve the welfare of the people as well as to uphold the Constitution and the law.”
PAT COX
As president, he says he would work closely with the Taoiseach and the Government and all State and community institutions and organisations to promote national recovery and renewal.
If elected as the Fine Gael candidate, he would carry “the torch of leadership” on the journey of national recovery, just as the party’s forebears in Cumann na nGaedhal had to do in the 1920s. He would meet the challenge of making Ireland “the best small country in the world”.
He would ensure that the presidency, “an office that has always been firmly above party politics, offers the people of Ireland an anchor of stability in these difficult times”.
Irrespective of whom Fine Gael selects as its nominee, he would continue to play an active role in the party. At the time of the last presidential election in 1997, peace was not yet secured and prosperity seemed destined to continue, he points out.
“Today, peace prevails but our economic situation is fragile. The next presidency should strike a balance between recognising this reality and promoting confidence and hope in our future.” His presidency would be “one of unremitting hard work and intensive public service at home, while vigorously championing Ireland’s cause abroad”.
The contacts and relationships he built up as MEP and then president of the European Parliament would be of “undoubted benefit to Ireland”.