Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said today he did not anticipate any difficulty in securing “a sufficient number of people” to nominate a candidate for the presidency.
The party currently has 14 TDs and three Senators but will need a further three Oireachtas members to reach the number required for a nomination.
“The ardchomhairle (executive council) will take the decision as to whether we run or support the nomination of a candidate in the presidential election.
“As I said at the weekend, it’s my view that we should,” Mr Adams told a news conference at the Shelbourne Hotel this morning.
“The officer board of our party will meet shortly and consider all of that. We’ll consult, like we have been doing over the summer and we will go to an ardhchomhairle and, out of that, if the ardchomhairle is of a mind, proceed.
“The reason why I have been circumspect is because we are a democratic party and these are the elected leaderships of our party which take these decisions.”
He said President Mary McAleese had “set a very, very high bar” during her time in office.
“The Presidency is now respected across the entire island. It is genuinely, even in a partitioned island, a national position.”
Mr Adams said: “We need a President who will in many ways embody the broad democratic republican spirit.”
In an an apparent sideswipe at Labour’s nominee Michael D. Higgins, he said: “We need someone who won’t just feed us poetry but will actually in a very, very positive way face into the future because he or she trusts the people of Ireland, cherishes the people of Ireland and wants to see a real republic across the island and a harmonised, reconciled people.”
Asked if he had spoken to Sinn Féin’s deputy First Minister at Stormont, Martin McGuinness about running, Mr Adams said: “Martin’s in the States. I know his name has been tossed about there, a number of other names have been tossed about.”
There would be no formal discussion of a candidate, “until we take the decision to actually stand”.
Asked if the candidate would run on a Sinn Féin ticket or otherwise, Mr Adams said: “No, the person would be supported by Sinn Fein and hopefully by others but would not be there as a a Sinn Fein candidate.”
Asked if Sinn Féin would be able to obtain the requisite 20 Oireachtas members – three more than it currently has in the Dáil and Seanad - to support the nomination, Mr Adams said he did not anticipate any difficulty in securing “a sufficient number of people”.
He added: “I would rule myself out.” Deputy Mary Lou McDonald added: “I have ruled myself out.”
