Poll: Who would you vote for in the presidential election?
Former minister
Mary Hanafin
is to seek the Fianna Fáil nomination to contest the presidential election.
The Tipperary native and former Dún Laoighaire TD has told the Irish Independent she is "in the mix".
Advertisement
Ms Hanafin said: "'If I could contest it, I would happily do that. It's a role I would hope people could feel I would do well, both nationally and internationally."
Fianna Fáil hasn't put forward a candidate for the election since 1997.
The party decided to sit out the 2011 presidential election after a disastrous showing at the general election earlier that year, while in 2018 Fianna Fáil opted not to challenge President Michael D Higgins.
Ms Hanafin, 66, feels sitting out the 2025 presidential election is not an option.
Advertisement
'I think it would be an insult to the office of president if the largest political party doesn't contest it. It's a really important constitutional role,' she said.
'I think the nomination should be decided earlier rather than later. I know it can make it a very long campaign, but for a candidate to campaign well I think you could go around the country and actually talk to people."
Ms Hanafin has had a number of disputes with Taoiseach Micheál Martin in the past. In 2011, she lost out to Mr Martin in the Fianna Fáil leadership contest, and in 2014 she ignored his request not to stand in the local elections in Blackrock.
However, she said they are now on good terms.
Advertisement
Ms Hanafin served as education minister, arts minister and social protection minister during her time in government.
She is the first big name in Fianna Fáil to make her intention to seek the nomination clear. Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, former minister Éamon Ó Cuív and MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú have all been linked with a bid.
Big names have been slow to emerge ahead of the election, but many are likely to set out their stall in the weeks to come given the election must take place by Tuesday, November 11th.
MEP Seán Kelly and former MEP Mairead McGuinness are likely to compete for the Fine Gael nomination.
Advertisement
Speaking to reporters in Brussels, Mr Kelly said he is considering running but has not yet made up his mind.
He also said an internal contest for the Fine Gael nomination would be a positive.
"Democracies thrive on elections, without elections, you can't have democracies. The members like to be able to exercise their franchise," he said.
It was recently revealed that Ms McGuinness claimed €800,000 in MEP expenses for office rent and other costs when using family property in Co Meath as her constituency office.
Advertisement
This is within EU Parliament rules. However, The Irish Times reports some Fine Gael sources feel it is a "point of discomfort" in the presidential campaign
because of the prospect of questions being raised on the matter.
Sinn Féin has not selected a candidate yet, but Northern Ireland First Minister
Michelle O'Neill
has not ruled out a bid.
At a press conference in Co Armagh, Ms O'Neill was asked about the possibility of her running in the election.
She replied: "I think I've plenty to do, being First Minister. But I would think the fact remains that I could stand for election, I could be elected as Uachtarán na hÉireann, but I can't vote in that election, so that's where there's a deficit and what we need to see is presidential voting rights extended to the North so the Irish citizens in the North can vote.'
Former SDLP leader Colum Eastwood was also linked with a presidential bid. He told the BBC that people had asked him to consider a presidential bid.
'I'm going to take the time to think about it."
In terms of so-called celebrity candidates, recently retired radio presenter Joe Duffy and broadcaster Miriam O'Callaghan have been linked with a presidential bid.
Duffy has not ruled it out, while O'Callagahan has been consistently linked with a bid over the years.
Less likely is Conor McGregor, who has made his desire to run no secret, however, he would likely find it difficult to be nominated by
at least 20 members of the Oireachtas or the backing of at least four local authorities — city or county councils.
Take our poll below to choose who you would like to vote for in November.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Bob Vylan's vile anti-British rants - cheered on by the smug, middle-class Glastonbury wokerati - have brought the true ideology of the far Left into the open: CHARLIE DOWNES
By now, you will certainly have heard of Pascal Robinson-Foster, although you might know him better by his stage name, Bobby Vylan. A punk singer and political extremist who despises Britain, Robinson-Foster made headlines around the world last weekend when he called for 'death to the IDF' (Israeli Defence Forces) while performing at Glastonbury.
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
MAIL ON SUNDAY COMMENT: So, Chancellor, why is it so wrong to stand by a solemn election pledge?
Are Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves actually secretly pleased to have been publicly humiliated by their own backbenchers? A cynic might conclude this was so. Once upon a time, a Premier and a Chancellor whose most vital economic plans were brutally, publicly destroyed by their own MPs would have at least considered resignation. It seems that nowadays it is more than their jobs are worth to resign. They propose to carry on in their well-paid posts, and to be driven about with their red boxes in Government cars, even though they no longer have the confidence of their party and cannot get their most crucial plans through Parliament. It was surely Sir Keir who ought to have been weeping on Wednesday. But no. A very odd thing has happened. Government ministers have been liberated from their own manifesto pledges by their own startling incompetence. By losing the battle to cut welfare payments, they have now been released from all their previous promises about tax. In fact, they are pretty much compelled to increase tax, something which they probably always wanted to do anyway, but had to promise not to do to get elected. Asked by the pro-Labour Guardian newspaper whether she was prepared to rule out tax rises in the autumn, Ms Reeves replied: 'I'm not going to because it would be irresponsible for a Chancellor to do that.' If this was not so bitter, and if the price to be paid was not so high, it would be funny. Suddenly it has become 'irresponsible' to stand by a solemn, undoubted promise, made in letters of fire in the Labour manifesto a year ago. There it was, on page 19: 'Labour will not increase taxes on working people, which is why we will not increase National Insurance, the basic, higher, or additional rates of Income Tax, or VAT.' Now, they will have to break at least part of this promise, or they will not be able to find the huge sums they will need to balance the national books. Having pretended to be hampered by a fictional black hole left by the Tories, Ms Reeves has now been presented with a real black hole, very wide and deep, by the Parliamentary Labour Party. This was bound to happen. Those who nowadays obtain nomination as Labour candidates are pretty unlikely to be moderates. But it has taken place surprisingly early in the life of the Starmer Government, because that Government is so badly run. The Labour leadership is simultaneously afraid of Nigel Farage and the voters he threatens to take away, and of Jeremy Corbyn and the voters – and activists – his new movement may seduce. What a terrible pity it is that the Opposition is currently so weak, and that so many voters were sweet-talked into complacency about the possibility of a Starmer administration a year ago. Even so, this is what has happened. The price must now be paid, probably in ways which will damage the economy as much as Ms Reeves's foolish increase in employers' National Insurance contributions. This new mess cannot be avoided. But we do not need any more of this. This week should be the turning point, when the voters decide that they made a mistake by choosing this Government and we start the long march towards replacing it with a competent, responsible administration.
The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
Kneecap vow to beat government in court ‘for second time' amid band member's terror charge
Next month will see 'the second time Kneecap have beat the British Government in court', the Irish rap trio said at their largest gig to date. The 45,000-strong crowd in Finsbury Park, London watched them walk on in front of a screen that said ' Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people'. They were supporting Irish band Fontaines DC, whose front man Grian Chatten joined to perform their collaboration Better Way To Live. People echoed the Belfast group's chants when they repeated the 'f*** Keir Starmer' and 'you're just a s*** Jeremy Corbyn' comments made at Glastonbury the previous weekend. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs as Mo Chara, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court earlier this month charged with a terror offence and will return next month. Fellow member Naoise O Caireallain, who uses the stage name Moglai Bap, said 'if anyone's free on the 20th of August, you wanna go to the court and support Mo Chara' before shouting 'free Mo Chara, free, free Mo Chara'. Wearing a keffiyeh, O hAnnaidh responded: 'I appreciate it, the 20th of August is going to be the second time Kneecap have beat the British Government in court – in their own court, on their own terms, and we're going to beat them for the second time. 'I tell you what, there is nothing like embarrassing the British Government.' Last year Kneecap won a discrimination challenge over a decision by former business secretary Kemi Badenoch to refuse them a £14,250 funding award. The UK Government conceded it was 'unlawful' after the band launched legal action claiming the decision to refuse the grant discriminated against them on grounds of nationality and political opinion. It was agreed that the £14,250 sum would be paid by the Government to the group. During the performance the group intermittently broke off the mosh pits and raucous crowd by addressing the war in Gaza, which is a recurring theme of their shows. O hAnnaidh said: 'It's usually around this point of the gig that we decide to talk about what's happening in Palestine. 'I understand that it's almost inhumane that I'm thinking of new things to say on stage during a genocide, for sound bites. 'It's beyond words now, like, we always used to say obviously they're being bombed from the skies with nowhere to go, but it's beyond that now. 'They've been being starved for a few months on end, and not only that, the areas that they have set up, to collect aid and food, have turned into killing fields and they're killing hundreds a day trying to collect food.' He continued: 'It's beyond words, but again, we played in Plymouth last night to 750 people and we did the same thing, so it doesn't matter how big or small our audience is, Kneecap will always use the platform for talking about this.' O Caireallain had said earlier in the show: 'They can try and silence us, they can try and stop us, but we're not going to stop talking about Palestine – as long as there's a genocide happening in Palestine we're going to keep talking about it and yous are going to keep talking about it, and they can't stop us.' The UN human rights office has recorded 613 killings near humanitarian convoys and at aid distribution points in Gaza run by an Israeli-backed American organisation since it began operations in late May. On Friday its spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said the rights office was not able to attribute responsibility for the killings, but 'it is clear that the Israeli military has shelled and shot at Palestinians trying to reach the distribution points' operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The GHF has denied any serious injuries or deaths on its sites and says shootings outside their immediate vicinity are under the purview of Israel's military. The Israeli military has said previously it fires warning shots to control crowds or at Palestinians who approach its troops.
