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Irish Times

It will be an ‘insult' if Fianna Fáil don't enter presidential race, says Mary Hanafin

Fianna Fáil should run a candidate in the presidential election , and it will be 'an insult' to the office if the party does not enter the race, former Fianna Fáil minister for education Mary Hanafin has declared. 'I firmly believe that the largest party of the country, which is the largest at local level, largest at national level, should be running,' said Hanafin, who has made clear her desire to be the party's candidate. Speaking at the Patrick MacGill Summer School in Glenties, Co Donegal, Ms Hanafin said: 'First of all, I think it's an insult to the office of president if you're willing to run for everything but you won't run for the office of president. 'Secondly, I think you have an obligation to give the people of Ireland a choice. Because it is the politicians who give you that choice,' said Hanafin, who has yet to receive public support from senior Fianna Fáil figures. READ MORE Saying that the theme of her campaign, if nominated, will be resilience, she said: 'I think my life experience is such that a word that actually has come up an awful lot here tonight is something that I would bring as my platform, which is resilience. 'I think I have been lucky enough, despite all of the knocks that we all experience, to bounce back each time,' said Ms Hanafin, who emphasised the 30 years of experience she has had as TD, minister, councillor. People in Northern Ireland should not be allowed to vote in presidential elections, she said: 'Not yet, and not in isolation. I think there's not enough understanding between communities within Northern Ireland and North-South.' Pointing to controversies during last week's Orange Order bonfires, including the burning of effigies , she said: 'There's still a journey to go before we get any kind of real understanding and real political understanding.' The Government's Shared Island programme, which bids to improve North-South co-operation, should be progressed 'to break down the boundaries', she told the Patrick MacGill Summer School. Saying that President Michael D Higgins is 'loved' by the public, Ms Hanafin said: 'The Irish people of all ages love their president, love their president, and that starts because they voted for their president. 'There is that sense of ownership. Even younger people under the age of 35 who could never get to be president until they're 35, just look at the way they love Michael D, particularly, and they respond to him,' she said. Continuing, she said: 'He pushed the boundaries in talking about world problems, but he didn't go beyond it. He didn't go beyond his constitutional role, and I think that the next president, or any president, should not start where he has finished. 'You bring it back to the start again and push your own boundaries. Because times change, issues change, problems change. The debate that you want to generate, the campaign that you're quietly launching can be done within that Constitution.' However, the next occupant of the Áras should not conflict with the Taoiseach and the Government: 'I think there is a wisdom in not overstepping the independence because you do not want to have a Taoiseach and a president in conflict about where a country stands.' Meanwhile, Seán Gallagher, who twice ran for the presidency, said his legacy will be that no other presidential candidate will be treated by RTÉ in the way that he was treated in 2011, when his campaign was derailed in the final stages by a false tweet. Ruling himself out of the race , he said his life had moved on, but he expressed concern at the reluctance of so many to come forward because they feared they would be 'annihilated' in a campaign that has become bruising in recent years. Mr Gallagher declared, to applause, that: 'The thing that frustrates me is negativity. I hate negativity because I want to say to people, 'Stop running down our country. Let's talk about the good things.' 'Let's stop being victims in our own lives. What can we do with our own careers, our own families, our own communities, our own country? Why are we afraid? Because we're inhibited by this Irish psyche that says, 'Don't get notions. Don't get above your station.' 'I say to hell with that. Get above your station. Be the best that you can be,' he said, 'there is a mentality in Ireland, and it is to take us down, to take each other down rather than build each other up.' The next president should take the lead in selling Ireland abroad, said Mr Gallagher: 'We could have a president on the stage attracting foreign direct investment into Ireland.' Equally, the winner of the election later this year could lead Ireland's effort to attract tourists and students to come to Ireland, 'or tapping into the 40 million Americans and the global diaspora'. Pointing to his experience of watching Mary McAleese in Shanghai, he said: 'The power when the president walks into a room of business leaders in China is beyond anything that you would experience here because we are so close to the president.' Referring to his first run in 2011, Mr Gallagher said: 'It's not lost on me that ... 14 years later one of the greatest challenges the country has is from a president who is an entrepreneur, a TV personality and in real estate.'