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The Irish Sun

Race for Aras heats up as ex-TD throws hat in to become President of Ireland despite possible ballot battle with Bertie

EX-MINISTER Mary Hanafin wants to become President of Ireland and has thrown her hat in the ring to become Fianna Fail's candidate. However, the 4 Former Fianna Fail Minister Mary Hanafin openly declared her desire to run for the Presidency Credit: Free for editorial use 4 Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has also flirted with the idea of running as President Credit: PA 4 President of Ireland Michael D Higgins will finish his term in Aras this year Credit: Sportsfile With just four months left before an election has to be held, the race for the Aras is finally starting to heat up as wannabe Presidents seek to secure a nomination. Political parties are purposely leaving it late to declare their candidates due to fears that a lengthy Former Fianna Fail Minister Mary Hanafin today openly declared her desire to run for the Presidency as she looks to secure the nomination from her party. She told Read more in News 'I'm sorry to see so many people ruling themselves out. I think the public at this stage know who doesn't want to run but they don't know who does want to run and maybe the time is now to start that.' The ex-Dun Laoghaire TD served in the She served as a Minister in a host of departments during her time in the Dail including Education, Social Affairs, Tourism and Sport, and Enterprise. Asked why she thinks she should be President, Mary Hanafin said: 'I would like to bring 30 years of public service at local and national level to the job where I've worked very closely with individuals and with communities. MOST READ ON THE IRISH SUN 'I believe it is in the first instance a constitutional role. It's set out in the constitution. You take an oath to the service and the welfare of people which I would like to bring.' President Michael D Higgins in health update after stroke scare It's understood that Mary Hanafin has already spoken with This open declaration of interest today from Mary Hanafin will likely fire the starting gun for other wannabe candidates for the election. MORE CANDIDATES Reports over the weekend suggest that former The Limerick man served in Government from 2002 to 2011 and was a junior Minister in the Department of Foreign Affairs. He has since ran the Unicef Ireland charity as Executive Director. Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern openly flirted with the idea of running as President by not ruling out the prospect during several media interviews. However, it's understood that several senior figures within Fianna Fail are against the idea of Bertie becoming the party's candidate as his past problems will be dragged up during the campaign. Current MEP Cynthia Ni Mhurcu has also been talked about in political circles as a potential candidate while her colleague in 4 The race for the Aras is finally starting to heat up as wannabe Presidents seek to secure a nomination Credit: Getty