The Race for the Áras (11 page)

The following day Bruce Arnold, the well-known
Irish Independent
columnist, seized on Byrne's words.

It was perhaps a harsh judgement on someone who was genuinely considering his options, and it was, as Arnold notes, characteristic of Byrne's career of feeling the public mood and reflecting that in his unmissable Saturday night television programme and weekly morning radio programme. That nous resulted in him reflecting and expertly understanding society's zeitgeist and being informed and confident enough to challenge it.

Arnold's colleague Sam Smyth, an experienced and authoritative political commentator, wrote an article in the
Independent
setting out the scale of the task facing Byrne and the type of organisation and spending he would need in order to mount a professional campaign. But he too couldn't help but wonder about Byrne's commitment. He questioned whether Byrne could put together a team to provide 24-hour media relations, a campaign manager, regional campaign managers, a team of volunteers, researchers, speech-writers, social media campaigners and, crucially, a fund-raiser. He described it as a ‘Herculean task'.

And then the crunch:

 

On the day of the 4
FM
opinion poll both Dana, the Eurovision singer and former presidential candidate, and the
GAA
commentator Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh confirmed that they were considering allowing their names be put forward for the Áras.

Dana was on a two-week holiday in Los Angeles, but her brother John Brown, who managed her previous campaigns, said she would make a decision on her return. Pressure had mounted on her to run after Norris withdrew his candidacy. According to Brown, she wasn't

Dana (53) ran as independent in 1997, having received the support of five county councils. She polled more than 175,000 first-preference votes, a respectable 14 per cent, to finish third. She was subsequently elected
MEP
for Connacht-Ulster. When she lost the seat in 2004 she declared with some good humour: ‘Like Schwarzenegger, I'll be back.'

The
Catholic Voice
immediately declared for Dana. Its publisher, Anthony Murphy, said:

 

Gay Byrne's affection for Co. Donegal, where he had a holiday home and regularly visited, was well known. His summer holidays were carved in stone, and representatives of the media seeking him knew his summer-holiday habits.

The Gay Byrne for President story was a ‘silly season' gift to the media. It was a showbiz phenomenon, a story hanging on a possible decision about a titan of the television who revelled and played in the spotlight after a lifetime of prompting and exploring major debates about social change, the economy and every other topic that excited human interest.

It was no surprise, then, that every inflection, comment, consideration and opinion poll would add fuel to what was a bonfire of speculation. This wasn't a story about politics: it was pure showbiz, not only about Byrne but about people who had shared the spotlight with him or who were his glittering celebrity colleagues—and it sold newspapers.

The
Irish Daily Star
that day, however, was much more encouraging. Its main headline read ‘Gaybo has
X
factor', and it quoted the pop mogul Louis Walsh on the front page. Referring to the record-breaking talent programme, Walsh said with his usual effusiveness:

An article inside the paper was provocatively and humorously headlined ‘Louis: Gay would kick Áras with Late Late election bid.' In an adjoining column the
Star
continued to show its mischievousness as it described five ‘scandals' that could ‘Byrne him.' Knowing that Walsh managed the group Boyzone, the paper cited the debut of the pop sensations on ‘The Late Late Show', hosted by Byrne, and asked, tongue firmly in cheek:

George Hook, the
RTE
rugby pundit, Newstalk drive-time presenter and Fine Gael supporter, was his usual popularly opinionated self in another article in the same paper.

Asked if he thought Byrne could be a good President, he replied bluntly:

The following day DonegalDaily.com, a news and magazine web site recently launched by the senior journalists Greg Harkin and Stephen Maguire, reported that Fianna Fáil had ‘finally' come out and backed Gay Byrne for the Presidency. ‘Mr Byrne, who is on holiday in Dungloe at the moment, admitted that he was “thinking about it” when asked if he planned to run for the Áras.'

They quoted Donegal North-East's new Fianna Fáil deputy, Charlie McConalogue, a local farmer and former organiser and researcher in Fianna Fáil head office. Before the 2011 general election the party held four of the six seats in the two constituencies in the county; McConalogue now was the only Fianna Fáil candidate elected in the county. He suggested that Byrne would be a ‘great candidate'.

However, it was that same Monday's edition of the
Limerick Leader
that revealed that the Clare
TD
Timmy Dooley had been pressing Gay Byrne's daughter to ask her to convince him to run for the Áras. It was a news story that would put both Byrne and Martin under pressure now that the offer had become public—Byrne to come under pressure to decide, and Martin, now exposed, to hope that his approach would be successful. A leading member of the party was quoted anonymously in the
Limerick Leader
as saying that

It then quoted the former Government minister and Limerick
TD
Willie O'Dea, who endorsed Byrne as a candidate.

His party colleague in the adjoining constituency of Limerick County, Niall Collins
TD
, said, ‘He is the most favoured candidate.'

As every pundit or celebrity in the country, whether a-league or z-league, rushed to have their opinion aired or to let it be known that they were available if the country called, it seemed that the only person in the country who remained silent on the issue was the Fianna Fáil leader, who remained in isolation as he continued his family holiday in west Cork.

Clearly conscious of the publicity storm they had created and of its profile-raising potential for a new station, 4
FM
organised another opinion poll on Monday the 8th. The results were perhaps predictable and influenced by the blanket positive coverage of Gaybo as a presidential candidate. A staggering 58 per cent of texters to the station put him at the top of the poll. The Ryan Tubridy show on 2
FM
also ran a text opinion poll on the same day, which showed that 54 per cent of listeners wanted him to run for the Presidency.

The following day Byrne, who had now returned to Dublin from his holiday to consult family, friends and advisers, told the
Irish Independent
: ‘That means 46 per cent don't want me to run. I'm talking to people, hearing what they have to say, then I will decide what I'm doing.'

The
Irish Daily Mail
trumpeted the 4
FM
poll on Tuesday: ‘Go on, give us Gaybo', it headlined its front page. However, on the letters page of the same paper Dr Bernadette Flanagan of Buncrana, Co. Donegal, wrote to set out a series of qualifications for the office of President, including the ability to act as guardian of the Constitution, international political experience, compassion and humility. She said she had found the ideal candidate in Rosemary Scallon (Dana), who she had met as chairperson of a meeting of European delegates in Brussels. Then she gave sub-editors and commentators a future hostage to fortune and humour when she finished her letter by saying, ‘Don't dismiss her as the Lark in the Park.'

The morning papers carried numerous endorsements of Byrne, which had been canvassed by reporters. The best-selling author Maeve Binchy said, ‘He has a huge rapport with the people of Ireland.' His
RTE
colleague Jimmy Magee, the sports broadcaster, admitted that Byrne's age could be a drawback but offered his support, saying that ‘Gay would be a an excellent communicator, a great public speaker—great at working an audience in the old show-business sense.' The Donegal country-and-western star Daniel O'Donnell said, ‘I can't think of anyone who would represent us better.'

The former Longford-Westmeath
TD
, Fianna Fáil minister and sister of former candidate Brian Lenihan (senior), Mary O'Rourke, who failed to retain her seat in the 2011 election, endorsed him, saying, ‘I'm in favour. He would handle himself and the country very well.' A few days earlier she was quoted in the
Examiner
as ruling herself out as a possible candidate. A regular media contributor, popular among radio producers and commissioning editors for describing a political situation candidly, O'Rourke was against her party running its own candidate. In typical forthright fashion, and perhaps a bit exasperated, she said, ‘I just don't see why we have to contest everything. We should give it a break, for goodness' sake.'

 

As shoppers in Eason's at Mahon Point Shopping Centre in Cork, billed as Munster's largest shopping centre, read the glowing endorsements of Gay Byrne in Wednesday's newspapers, the Euro-pop superstars Jedward (the identical twins John and Edward Grimes) were signing copies of their newly launched album
Victory
a few yards away. Surrounded by hundreds of noisy fans, they were asked by reporters about the presidential campaign. They rubbished any ageism arguments and said they would give Gaybo their vote.

Then they put forward a new political proposition: if they themselves were to run, they said, Gaybo would have no chance. ‘If we were allowed to contest the election we would totally win,' Edward said. But at twenty, below the constitutionally required thirty-five years of age, they were excluded. ‘We need a referendum to get the age limit down to twenty,' said Edward, excusing themselves from a showdown. Consequent discussions of the ‘what if' variety were to centre on the old versus the new.

The argument went that, if Gaybo ran, the question was who would vote for him: people aged over forty-five who probably remembered his television and radio programmes and welcomed his later sporadic return to the screen and Lyric
FM
; some younger people might vote for him for his work with the Road Safety Authority in reducing road deaths. Older people traditionally vote in far greater numbers at the polling booths.

If Jedward were allowed to run, and if it was a text vote? No contest. A technology, pop-music and social-media savvy generation would swamp the vote—and it would be a shared Presidency—or not, if you could tell them apart!

While the media continued to speculate about Byrne's intentions there was growing criticism within Fianna Fáil of Micheál Martin's solo run in offering to support him. The six-member committee established before the Dáil's summer recess still had not met to consider whether or not to run or alternatively to support an independent candidate. On social media networking sites, Fianna Fáil members were equally divided into those critical and those supportive of the Byrne overture.

However, the debate began to broaden out into the reason for senior members not being part of the selection process. Why, for example, were the former ministers Éamon Ó Cuív and Mary Hanafin and the
MEP
Brian Crowley not given the first option of party support, and why had Martin taken such a high-risk course of action?