A substantial number of the 31 local authorities in the State will facilitate special meetings to allow oral submissions from potential candidates seeking to run in the presidential election.
It raises the prospect of at least one non-party candidate, and possibly more, using this route to secure a nomination. A person wishing to stand in the election must be nominated by a minimum of 20 TDs and Senators, or by four local authorities.
The chairs or mayors of 12 councils have confirmed to The Irish Times that they will hold, or are planning to hold, special meetings in September to allow prospective independent candidates make oral submissions.
Cllr David Collins, chair of Galway County Council, said that as many as 13 people might have written to it seeking to make a presentation. Some councils have already designated a date. Carmel Kelly, chair of Kildare County Council, said it has picked two dates in September from which to choose a meeting.
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Fingal County Council in Dublin has provisionally set a date of September 8th to hear from individuals if they can secure the support of four of its elected members.
A formal date will be set by Fingal only after the Government issues the presidential election order – effectively the starting gun for the campaign.
The mayor of Fingal, Fine Gael councillor Tom O’Leary, told The Irish Times that preparations for a special meeting were being made to hear from potential candidates if they received support from four members of the local authority. He said if potential candidates received the necessary support, they could address a meeting of Fingal County Council at the appropriate time.
The chairs of other councils confirmed that they too would be guided by the presidential election order, in terms of setting the dates of the special meetings.
Dublin City Council is also expected to hold a special meeting to hear from potential candidates.
The chairs or mayors from Galway, Roscommon, Sligo, Kerry, Offaly, Tipperary, Waterford, Kildare, and Meath said they would hold meetings, or will probably begin to put arrangements in place for such meetings, during September.
A decision by a local authority to hear from prospective candidates, does not necessarily mean it will agree to a nomination.
In 2018, a total of 16 prospective candidates made pitches to local authorities throughout the State, with four candidates securing nominating through councils. Similarly, in 2011, four candidates came through this route, with one candidate, Mary Davis, receiving the backing of 13 councils.
Several chairs said that in 2018 councillors were taken aback by the presentations, and behaviour in the chamber, of a small minority of the prospective candidates, with one council saying privately it will request a member of An Garda Síochána to be present in the chamber during presentations.
It remains to be seen whether the main political parties will allow members of local authorities freedom to back candidates seeking to participate in the election for president or whether they will direct them not to support anyone other than their own official candidate.
Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin will disclose their respective decisions on fielding candidates by early September. Over the weekend, the former Galway West TD Éamon Ó Cuív said he was interested in a nomination. Two constituency colleagues, John Connolly TD and Senator Ollie Crowe, announced they would support him.
Some councils may insist hopefuls have to be nominated and seconded by councillors. Chair of Offaly County Council John Leahy said such a process had been considered by Westmeath and Laois. Chair of Sligo County Council Donal Gilroy said it wanted to be amenable to candidates making submissions but did not want to have the chamber used as a platform for an agenda unrelated to the election.
“We want to be democratic but we do not want to be used,” said Mr Gilroy.
