THE DECISION of Fine Gael councillors in Donegal and Roscommon to abstain from voting on motions supporting Seán Gallagher’s bid to obtain a presidential nomination may open up opportunities for other Independent candidates to win nominations.
Mr Gallagher, the Dragons' Denentrepreneur, yesterday won the provisional support of three county councils, all but securing his nomination. As well as Donegal and Roscommon, Clare County Council also backed his candidacy.
This follows the decision by Longford County Council to support him last week.
Mr Gallagher has now obtained declarations of intent from four local authorities, the minimum required to be formally accepted as a candidates. The declarations are conditional and councils will have to formally adopt the decision in September, after the election is officially declared.
A key factor in his success in Donegal and Roscommon was the decision of Fine Gael councillors to abstain. All Fine Gael councillors have had a whip imposed by party headquarters not to support or nominate any non-Fine Gael nomination for the presidency.
As a consequence, Independent candidates have been mainly concentrating on only the 14 local authorities (out of 34) that are not controlled by Fine Gael. However, a senior Fine Gael source confirmed last night that neither the Donegal nor the Roscommon councillors had defied the whip.
“The instruction was that they could not nominate or support. That left it open to councillors to oppose or abstain when the nomination of an Independent candidate came before the council.”
The disclosure that Fine Gael councillors may abstain may prompt the other two prominent Independent candidates seeking local authority nominations – David Norris and Mary Davis – to focus on a number of authorities controlled by Fine Gael.
Mr Norris was yesterday addressing Kildare County Council (which is not dominated by any party) and Sligo County Council (where Fine Gael is the largest party).
Councillors in Donegal took the unusual step of not inviting any of the candidates to address the chamber. Instead, the council voted on three candidates, Mr Gallagher, Mr Norris and Ms Davis. Mr Gallagher received 13 votes, Ms Davis received one and Mr Norris received none. The Fine Gael councillors abstained.
Similarly in Roscommon, Fine Gael councillors abstained, allowing Mr Gallagher’s nomination to be endorsed by all other councillors, with no dissenters. Roscommon is one of the local authorities with the highest number of Independent councillors.
By contrast, Mr Gallagher was endorsed by Clare County Council in a very tight vote following the decision by Fine Gael councillors to oppose his nomination. The outcome was 16 votes to 15, with Fianna Fáil, four Independents and Labour councillor Paschal Fitzgerald backing his candidacy.
Mr Gallagher said he was deeply honoured to win the backing of the three councils.
“I’m heartened to have received the support of councillors from . . . across the three counties,” he said.
Clare county manager Tom Coughlan warned the meeting that it was premature to make such a decision, saying that such a vote could be subject to a judicial review in the High Court.
The four contenders for the Fine Gael nomination are to put their case at a meeting of the parliamentary party on Thursday morning. Pat Cox, Avril Doyle, Mairéad McGuinness and Gay Mitchell will have seven minutes each to set out the reasons why they would be the best choice for the race to Áras an Uachtaráin.
There is no provision made on the agenda for questions. The aspiring candidates will speak in alphabetical order.
Close of nominations is on Friday and the candidate will be chosen at a selection convention in Dublin on July 9th.
The electoral college comprises 604 eligible voters, including Fine Gael TDs, Senators, local councillors and members of the party executive council.