A NEW system for nominating presidential candidates should be introduced so that the office would not continue to be "the preserve of political parties", the Fine Gael TD Mr Alan Shatter said yesterday.
The fact that political parties controlled both the Houses of the Oireachtas and the local authorities prevented any person standing as a candidate for the presidency without the approval of one of the major political parties, he said.
Mr Shatter said that Mrs Robinson's successor must be a person conscious of the constitutional limitations of the office but committed to a presidency of independent insight capable of pushing the boundaries of the office further forward in a way that benefited all who lived on this island.
"For decades, Aras an Uachtarain was a retirement home for elderly politicians." As a consequence, it appeared remote and irrelevant, he said
"Our current President, Mary Robinson, has transformed the office. It is now perceived as a dynamic and unifying force in the country. Her term of office has illustrated the value of having a President who is conscious of the constitutional obligation to avoid party political partisanship and who has the skill to act as an informed guardian of constitutional principles."