Story of the Week
Finally, after a few weeks in which all manner of exotic candidates presented themselves at local authorities around the country as potential presidential candidates, the line-up for the election was finalised when nominations closed on Wednesday at noon.
Despite a sustained effort among county councils by 35-year-old pharma entrepreneur Gareth Sheridan that saw him win nominations from Kerry and Tipperary, he came up two councils short in the end. And on Wednesday morning, conservative campaigner Maria Steen – having amassed 18 of the 20 Oireachtas nominations she needed before hitting a roadblock – admitted she would not make it on to the ballot paper. She insisted it was not a defeat, but rather a reflection of how the political establishment locked out dissenting voices.
And so when they go to the polls on October 24th, voters will be faced with the shortest ballot paper since 1990, with just three candidates to choose from: the Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys, the Fianna Fáil candidate Jim Gavin, and the candidate of the left, supported by Sinn Féin, the Labour Party, the Social Democrats, People Before Profit and the Greens, Catherine Connolly.
All three are already busy on the campaign trail, and the first televised debate takes place on Monday evening on Virgin TV – though some observers suggest the public will not really tune in until after the October 7th budget, in the last two weeks of the campaign.
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In the Dáil, it was a week without the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, as they were off in New York – along with President Michael D Higgins – for the UN General Assembly. They were among those watching as Donald Trump delivered one of his vintage harangues, lambasting the UN for its failure, chief among which seemed to be that the escalator didn’t work for his and the teleprompter failed.
Don’t worry. They’re back next week.
Bust up
With Maria Steen just a few votes short in the early part of the week, her supporters sought to bring pressure to bear on independent TDs and senators who they thought could and should have brought her over the magic number of 20 Oireachtas nominations. But they would not budge and as the clock ticked down toward the Wednesday deadline, some of the lobbying and the social-media pressure turned ugly.
Senators also resented being pressured by councillors stumping for Steen – senators being especially solicitous toward the councillors who they have to ask to elect them every five years.
In the end, the senators principally targeted – Michael McDowell, Gerard Craughwell, Victor Boyhan – and the independent TDs, Boxer Moran, Sean Canney, Noel Grealish and a few others, would not give in. They have been fiercely targeted by supporters of Steen since (there is no suggestion that candidate herself had any involvement) in a bitter blame game.
Banana Skin
For the week’s banana skin, take your pick between Catherine Connolly’s interviews on Hamas, and her comments about Germany’s rearmament.
An interview with BBC’s Talkback on Monday – in which she disputed Keir Starmer’s view that Hamas should not be part of a future Palestinian government – led to a difficult outing on Morning Ireland on Tuesday in which she was grilled by Audrey Carville.
[ Catherine Connolly’s Áras campaign stalls on thorny question of HamasOpens in new window ]
As journalists pointed out repeatedly to Connolly’s supporters in a series of doorsteps with Labour, Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats, the Greens and People Before Profit, this put her at odds with not just the EU, but the Arab league and the actual Palestinian Authority.
The reactions of the left-wing parties ranged from deep discomfort (Labour) to full-throated support (People Before Profit). Expect that to continue, but any day when you are clarifying your position on Hamas is not a great day on the campaign trail.
Two days later, Connolly was being asked about comments she made about Germany’s rearmament (in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine) which she likened to what happened in the country in the 1930s. It is a strange lesson to take from the 1930s that democracies should not rearm in the face of threats from dictatorships.
Winners and losers
Chief executives of semistate companies could be in line for pay increases under new government guidelines on the sector which, we reported on Thursday, could see RTÉ chief Kevin Bakhurst’s salary grow from €250,000 to €300,000, if the broadcaster sought the change. Under RTÉ rules, where nobody can earn more than the director general, that would mean maximum pay could rise for the “stars” as well. Happy days.
Putative presidential candidate Maria Steen insisted that “it does not feel like I have lost” – but for social conservatives intent on making a political impact, her failure to make it on to the ballot paper is a defeat. She would have been a strong candidate and while winning the election might seem like a long-shot, she would have had four weeks of prime-time exposure to make the case for her political beliefs.
Big read
On Saturday, Ellen Coyne has a long interview with Maria Steen, while Harry McGee has a look forward to the campaign to come.
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Hear how the Inside Politics podcast last summer inspired Eoin O’Malley’s book on Garret FitzGerald vs Charlie Haughey – the rivalry that shaped Irish politics for a generation.
