THE PRESIDENTIAL campaign of Senator David Norris suffered a serious setback last night when, in a surprise move, South Dublin County Council rejected by a single vote a motion to support his nomination.
The Senator himself was in the council building in Tallaght before the meeting but left immediately after the result of the vote was announced.
Chairing the meeting, mayor of south Dublin Councillor Caitríona Jones of Labour said it was a special meeting with only one item on the agenda, the motion to nominate Senator Norris, which would be taken without debate.
Independent councillor Gus O’Connell proposed that the council “exercises its right under the Presidential Elections Act 1993, section 16” to nominate Senator Norris as a candidate for the election. The seconder was Labour councillor Mick Duff.
The vote was 12 against, 11 in favour, with three abstentions. Voting against were: six Fine Gael, four Labour and two Sinn Féin members. In favour: five Labour, four Fianna Fáil, one Independent and one People Before Profit Alliance councillor. Two Fine Gael members and one from Sinn Féin abstained.
Mr Duff later told The Irish Times: “It’s regrettable, I don’t think democracy was well-served today. This was a decision that should have been left up to the general public. They have the right to decide who will go to the Áras and I feel our actions here today have deprived a lot of people of that right.”
He pointed out that the advice from party headquarters was that no Labour councillor was to obstruct any candidate. He believed Michael D Higgins would be “honoured” to have Mr Norris in the race and that the Labour candidate would be the next president.
Fianna Fáil councillor Eamonn Walsh told reporters: “It is quite clear that this was an attempt by Fine Gael, whose candidate is performing poorly in opinion polls, to frustrate any competition from rivals.”
He added: “It was a frustration of the democratic process, it is quite clear that Senator Norris has a long-standing legislative background.
“I am not saying we were going to support him for president but certainly we believe he is entitled to be on the ballot-paper. It is small-minded of Labour and Fine Gael to have frustrated that and I think they may pay dearly for it.”
Labour councillor Eamon Tuffy, who voted against the motion, said: “I was worried about the celebrity element of his candidacy and that there wouldn’t be enough focus on the real issues. ”
In his view, the Senator was “portraying himself too much as a celebrity candidate”.
Councillor Chris Bond (Labour), who voted in favour, said: “Any aspiring candidate who commands a reasonable amount of support should get the opportunity to put themselves before the electorate and let the people of Ireland be the judge of their suitability.”
Ms Jones, who voted against, said there had been “a media campaign” to get Mr Norris back in the race but she had not heard a proper explanation as to why he decided to resume his presidential efforts. A lot of her constituents in the Lucan and Palmerstown area had raised “the distraction that he would be to the real values of the presidential campaign”.
The fact that Labour councillors voted both for and against the motion showed that “it certainly was nothing to do with protecting the Labour candidate, I have every confidence in Michael D Higgins”.
