The Race for the Áras (16 page)
Read The Race for the Áras Online
Authors: Tom Reddy
Brendan O'Connor in his
Sunday Independent
column took a pop at the
Irish Times
for doing a âhatchet job' on Byrne. He said that the paper
took issue with the fact that Gay had claimed to be apolitical but in fact, shock horror, it turned out he had many views on things, and, more worryingly, many of these views were not left-wing, which made them âcontroversial', and worse again, âright-wing'. And we all know that to accuse a potential president of right-wing views is a fatal blow in this country. Because although this is a right-wing, capitalist, western country where the vast majority of people vote for parties that are centrist or right wing, in Fintan O'Toole's Ireland âright-wing' means evil â¦
Gay would not have been going into this election with the clamour he wanted. He would have been entering a potential dogfight. And having seen just a taste of what the dogfight might entail in the media last week, he clearly decided he would be mad to sully his position as father of the nation by subjecting himself to it.
Echoing the comments of Vincent Browne a few days earlier, who had suggested that Byrne would be a good President but a bad candidateâone not up to the rigours of campaigningâO'Connor added: âAnd the unfortunate thing about how this election has gone thus far, is probably that the best candidate will win it, and not necessarily the best President.'
The newly elected senator John Crown, a consultant oncologist elected on the National University panel, used his column in the same paper to suggest that the presidential contest could be seen as one of the least consequential electoral exercises. However, it would be instructive for future political students, he said. He slammed Fianna Fáil for offering support to Byrne in contravention of its support for the European Union, which Byrne firmly opposed. And Fine Gael was not spared either for opposing Norris's bid, saying it suggested âa certain contempt for democracy.' He railed that our politicians
hire armies of public relations consultants to maintain their reputational status. They would do well to pay attention to their responsibilities for maintaining the reputation of the democratic system of government itself.
Now more than ever we need political leaders who are more concerned about statesmanship and less about electoral stunt-mongering.
This presidential election would be a good start.
Fianna Fáil responded formally to Byrne's announcement with a brief statement.
As was fully demonstrated in this week's opinion poll, there was very wide public support for Gay Byrne's potential candidacy. Gay Byrne has many fine qualities and would have made an excellent candidate. However, we respect his personal decision not to stand in the presidential election.
As to who the party will support, the process remains that a decision will be taken on this matter by the parliamentary party next month.
While the Sunday-paper-buying public munched their breakfast toast and drank their breakfast tea as they read the myriad stories and opinions about Byrne, he was on the radio. He was talking to the chat-show presenter Claire Byrne (no relation), who was filling in for the doyenne of
RTE
radio, Marian Finucane. Byrne decided he was
just pestered to death. I completely accept that the campaign process is the campaign process, and it's the silly season, and it's August, and newspapers and media are looking for some type of story. I really felt that I was in the middle of a firestorm.
To give you an example, one young woman from a newspaper rang me yesterday and asked, âHave you made up your mind?' I said, âI'll give you my decision when I make up my mind and when the decision is made.' She said, âWhat's the hold-up?' There was a fair amount of indignation in her voice, as if I was getting between her and her dinner. And I had to explain to her that I just had to have consultation with people, because I knew nothing about this situation, and I had to consult with people who did know something about this situation, and I decided there and then that I would put an end to all this. So there you go, it's over.
The race for the Presidency is not a sprint, it's a marathon, and it was going to go on for a long, long time, and I didn't have the stomach for all of that. It was a totally and completely new concept to me, because in truth I never dreamed about being President. I never thought about it: it never occurred to me. It never came up, even on my long-range radar of what way my life would go.
He signed off by thanking all the âgood people' who had wished him well and wishing good luck to the four contenders already in the field. He added that he felt his former
RTE
colleague sports commentator MÃcheál à Muircheartaigh was the most popular man in Ireland and that, if he ran, his money was on him. To the final question, âAny regrets?' he replied definitively. âNone. Once the decision was made. Thank you, and goodbye.'
The following morning, Monday 15 August, the editorial in the
Irish Examiner
rapped Micheál Martin on the knuckles over his approach to Byrne.
No matter what spin Martin's office might offer, he made a very public error of judgement that will cast a shadow over his leadership. It will provoke antipathy and resentment among colleagues who are probably entitled to believe that they should be allowed to challenge for the party's nomination in the Ãras race.
It compared Bertie Ahern's sure-footed and careful approach in securing the party's nomination for Mary McAleese with the Byrne fiasco. It was also probably the only recent positive press reference Ahern had received since the country's financial collapse, for which he was pilloried. It continued:
Where Mr Ahern was ruthless and utterly focused, Mr Martin was wildly optimistic and opportunist. He was also far less respectful of his party's traditions and colleagues with presidential ambitions than he should have been.
That same day the
Evening Herald
published a column by Fergus Finlay, the defeated Labour Party contender, in which he said that Byrne had had two choices if he ran: to organise his own campaign team or to let Fianna Fáil organise it for him. The former wasn't a runner, he suggested, as he'd need an experienced political manager. âIn America you can buy that kind of expertise,' he said, âbut not here.' No, the only alternative was to let Fianna Fáil run his campaignâthe preparation, the slogans, the messageâwhich meant that it would end up owning him. For Finlay,
you might get over that if you wonâbut you'd have to win. Gay Byrne was being pushed into a race that he couldn't, at any level, afford to lose. Not for the first time, Gay Byrne made the right career choice. That's how he has survived for so long.
Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil had both employed American political consultants in their various general election campaigns, during which they paid particular attention to the big picture and to messaging. But Finlay was proved wrong, as the independent candidates would all recruit the services of professional
PR
and political operatives to bolster their campaign teams. Mary Davis and Seán Gallagher had recruited former Fianna Fáil and ministerial press officers; Gay Mitchell had recruited the press officer of the former Green Party minister John Gormley.
A cadre of former back-room operatives from all parties had grown over the past twenty years as people employed by the three main parties moved into the private sector and specifically into public-relations companies. In the recent general elections the core strategising and implementation for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael was carried out by experienced current and former staff members and a cadre of volunteers around the country.
In the same edition of the
Evening Herald
that Finlay's column appeared, Willie O'Dea was quoted as maintaining his support for an independent candidate rather than for someone from within the ranks of the party. But he opened up a potential new line of thought, referring not only to supporting an independent who might yet emerge but possibly to someone who was already declared, which by implication was either Gallagher or Davis.
There is nobody in Fianna Fáil who can be elected President given the way the party is still seen by voters. There is no possibility whatsoever in my mind of
US
electing a Fianna Fáil President. It would be a bad mistake nominating our own candidate.
I still believe we should look to an independent candidate that is already in the race or else support a completely new candidate that may emerge.
A few days later he would tell the
Irish Times
that he would have no problem getting behind a good external candidate but âwon't be beating the bushes' to find one. Asked what he thought about the four candidates in the field already, he said, âMary Davis is well qualified to be President.'
O'Dea's colleague in Limerick County, Niall Collins, had proved his own election expertise by achieving the highest percentage vote for any Fianna Fáil candidate in the general election. He echoed O'Dea's view:
I can't identify anybody within our own ranks who I feel could potentially win the contest. Obviously there are people who could carry out the role and the job as President of Ireland quite successfully, but I don't think that they're in a position where they could win the election.
Now that Gay Byrne had exited the political stage, existing candidates and potential candidates began to win back more media coverage.
Â
The only hard news story in the race was Gay Mitchell's support for two condemned men on death row in the United States, and the media probed for the content of the letters after the revelation of Norris's letter of support for his lover had led to his resignation. Until there was clarity, Mitchell would also be a target.
A secondary debate had emerged about the use and the cost of posters. Gallagher had called on candidates not to use posters, as they would be part of the cost that candidates could possibly recoup if they received enough votes to be reimbursed by the taxpayers. âThere are many outlets in which we can communicate our message without plastering unsightly posters on every telegraph pole in our cities, towns and rural areas.' But he would later draw fire from Davis, who said that he had postered advertising space on rubbish bins in shopping centres while calling for a no-poster campaign from other candidates.
Davis would also later defend her decision to run a national poster campaign, saying it was necessary for candidate recognition. Unlike politicians, she had not featured previously in such campaigns and so had not benefited from being in the public eye as they had over the years. Her posters showed her in a red dress, which some commentators likened to advertisements for the cereal Special K, which put itself forward as important in a slimming diet. (Thankful for the reference, the cereal company sent a hamper of its products to the campaign headquarters, which Davis subsequently donated to a charity.)
Davis also denied that her photograph was airbrushed when critics suggested that it bore no resemblance to the 56-year-old woman. After the campaign she said that
the pictures weren't airbrushed. I've said this
ad nauseam
. No matter how many times I said it, the same questions were asked again and again. If you looked closely you'd see all the lines were there. But of course as the campaign progressed you were looking more and more tired; but the pictures weren't airbrushed.
Michael D. Higgins said that posters were a traditional part of the electoral process and played a significant role in creating awareness among the public. Only Gallagher and Dana failed to put up posters on poles.
Surprisingly, the content of the posters would be the next issue in an increasingly fractious campaign, and it boiled over into the public domain in early September. Davis had been using the slogan
Pride at home, respect abroad
for weeks, according to her campaign team. On Friday 9 September she launched her posters, as well as a web site and leaflets carrying the slogan, with a photo call. However, Mitchell's web site and leaflets, which were promoted at the Galway think-in (a parliamentary party seminar before the autumn Dáil session), had the same slogan. According to a Mitchell spokesperson, they were âsomething that we have been using for quite a while.'
âDon't you just hate when you come up with a brilliant sloganâand it turns out to be exactly the same as your rivals'?' asked
www.thejournal.ie
, which used the words âoops' and âsnap' to promote its article. Mitchell's team responded to the site that imitation was the best form of flattery.
The issue of who was first with the slogan was never resolved, but there were dark mutterings that Fine Gael had adopted the slogan as a âflak' attack on Davis. The Davis campaign said they had used the slogan first, as she launched her campaign in May and it had featured in local media advertising, including, most recently, the
Sligo Champion
. âIt is exactly what we stand for. I certainly have no intention of changing the slogan,' said Davis. âWhat Fine Gael do is up to them. I don't think they stole it, I think it's merely a coincidence.'
Describing it as a âbizarre coincidence,' Mitchell's director of elections, Charlie Flanagan
TD
, said: âIt's our slogan. The literature is in the public domain for some time now. The slogan has appeared on election literature and paraphernalia for weeks. I'd be surprised to see it feature in another candidate's material.'
While Davis had already printed her posters, Fine Gael had so far provided only canvassing materials for its
TD
s and its organisation. Davis stuck to her guns, and Mitchell changed his slogan. He would produce two versions, for different markets, one of him wearing a smart suit and a second wearing a windcheater with a tractor in the background.