The Race for the Áras (2 page)

While the President holds the highest office in the land, and is not answerable to either house of the Oireachtas or to any court, a safeguard is built in to the Constitution that provides a procedure for impeaching the President for stated misbehaviour.

The two previous holders of the office, Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese, stretched the influence and significance of the office by publicly associating it with their presidential themes. Mary Robinson had dramatically drawn to the attention of the world the plight of people in famine-ravaged Somalia and later to the victims of the Rwandan genocide. The work of Mary McAleese and that of her husband, Martin, in fostering North-South relations during her tenure reflected her original campaign theme of building bridges.

Governments have had every day of their tenure recorded and analysed by the media as they enjoyed or coped with controversy. Presidents, as non-political entities, have for the most part avoided controversy; but when controversy hit, it hit hard, at the office and the office-holder. The television presenter Pat Kenny would later say that media scrutiny of candidates was justified, as it would draw attention to, inform about or provide an insight into how a presidential candidate might react in the face of intense political pressure.

Controversies, some of national import, marked some of the occupants of the Áras. Dr Douglas Hyde, the country's first President and the first poet in the Park, was expelled from the
GAA
for attending a rugby match in his official capacity. His funeral service in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, was not attended by members of the coalition Government, because of the edict of the Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid, forbidding any Catholic attendance at a Protestant service. Instead, ministers sat sanctimoniously and ostentatiously in their cars outside the cathedral as his soul was commended to God.

The mild-mannered Erskine Childers contested the 1973 election and won the race despite the Fine Gael candidate being the favourite, having been a keen contender in the previous election against Éamon de Valera. However, there was tension between his office and the Government led by Liam Cosgrave after they rejected his proposal to establish a think-tank in the Áras—a proposal that was probably before its time.

After the untimely death in office of Childers, Fianna Fáil proposed Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, a former Chief Justice, as its candidate. There was no opposition to his candidacy. The news editor of the
Irish Independent
, Don Lavery, recalled what was supposed to be a routine ‘marking' or ‘job' for him as a young reporter on the
Westmeath Examiner
at Columb Barracks, Mullingar, on Monday 18 October 1976. Loyalist bombs had caused mass murder in Dublin and Monaghan, and the
IRA
had murdered the British ambassador and a garda in a booby-trap bomb. The Government responded by proposing to give the Gardaí more powers in an Emergency Powers Bill. President Ó Dálaigh referred the proposed law to the Supreme Court, angering some members of the Government. The Minister for Defence, Paddy Donegan, who was formally opening a canteen in Columb Barracks, didn't deliver the speech he had brought with him.

Lavery's report caused a political storm. Ó Dálaigh demanded the minister's resignation. Donegan offered it, but the Taoiseach, Liam Cosgrave, refused to accept it, so Ó Dálaigh resigned, becoming the only President to resign in office. The bill was subsequently found to be constitutional.

Paddy Hillery from Co. Clare, vice-president of the European Commission and a former Fianna Fáil
TD
and firebrand with a quiet humour, was pressured by the party leader, Jack Lynch, into accepting the role of President without a contest. He accepted; on taking up a second term he remarked that it was his reward for ‘good behaviour' and effectually ‘doubled' his sentence in the Park. It was a position he had never wanted, but his steely determination and low-key approach reasserted the authority of the office.

 

On Thursday 10 November 2011, the eve of the inauguration of her successor, President McAleese carried out her last official function in Dublin. Months earlier she had responded to a letter from the Society of St Vincent de Paul asking her to formally open a renovated block of long-term accommodation units for homeless men. The renovation cost €800,000 and was financed in full by the society. It provides permanent accommodation and support for eighteen people whose physical or mental health means that they cannot live independently.

According to Larry Toumey and Tommy O'Reilly, speaking at the Back Lane Hostel in the Liberties of Dublin, ‘we invited her, but she named the day. She pointed out that it would be her last engagement, and she wanted it to be here.' At the event, where there was music and poetry, the President said, ‘This place is evidence that love exists.' After unveiling the plaque she spoke to the small media posse, recording her last formal engagement. Was it a sad day? ‘If you give me two seconds, I'll be in floods of tears, but I don't want to do that in public!'

She went on to pay tribute to the team who had worked with her over the years in the Áras. She was asked if she had any advice for the next President. ‘Oh, just to enjoy it,' she replied. ‘Enjoy being President. I woke up every morning full of joy. I loved every day on the job.'

That morning's
Irish Independent
editorialised under the headline ‘McAleese leaves a remarkable legacy.'

In the
Irish Times
the political correspondent Deaglán de Bréadún provided analysis, saying that President McAleese defied easy categorisation.

With only a few days of her Presidency left, McAleese invited the President-elect and his family to the Áras for lunch (black sole and lemon soufflé with Phoenix Park raspberries) and a tour of the building, including a visit to the family quarters, which ended with a private discussion between the President and her successor.

Perhaps Miriam Lord, who had just won the inaugural National Newspapers of Ireland Award for her political reporting, on the same page in the
Irish Times
summed up the country's warmth and great love for President McAleese. As Lord waited with other journalists for the first citizen to usher in the President-in-waiting and other guests,

Chapter
2
   
THE RUNNERS

‘I
had to be absolutely whiter than white,' said Senator David Norris, talking about his sex life in Ireland.

My private life and my sexual life were lived in Israel, and here I was a nun. So, I'm used to it. I had people throwing themselves at me because I was the little tin god in the gay community here; it was nothing to do with my looks, it was that I was the champion [of gay rights].

In cold print, the 65-year-old was laying bare his sex life. It was a portent of the type of media scrutiny all candidates would go through. But only Norris was quizzed about his sex life.

Almost two years before polling in the presidential election, potential candidates and the political parties would start flying kites about who might and might not run for the Park. In political circles it was generally accepted that the party grandees Bertie Ahern, Michael D. Higgins and John Bruton were likely candidates. The name of the Fine Gael
MEP
Mairead McGuinness had popped up in speculation in the media alongside the former Fianna Fáil minister Mary O'Rourke and the independent senator David Norris.

Over the next year political parties and individual candidates would lick their finger, hold it up to the prevailing political wind and see if it was a fair or foul wind blowing in their direction, without committing themselves and risking the ridicule of rejection.

Months before serious political heavy-hitters began to emerge for the race, a sports columnist in the
Irish Times
would suggest Ted Walsh—the former amateur jockey and Cheltenham winner and now a trainer and television race commentator—as a good tenant for the Áras. Walsh had trained Papillon to win the Grand National in 2000 and Commanche Court to win the Irish Grand National, both horses piloted by his son Ruby. Worthy candidates would be proposed throughout the campaign, some serious, some humorous, all offering the Áras as a reward for some service. According to the
Irish Times
article,

In April 2010 Fergus Finlay, the former Labour Party spin doctor and
chef de cabinet
to the Tánaiste, Dick Spring, in the coalition Government with Fianna Fáil (1993–7), went public about his presidential aspirations. He told Sam Smyth of the
Irish Independent:
‘I'd be very tempted to have a go at something like that. My gut says “yes,” but I'm not 100 per cent sure how to express that eloquently.' Finlay, a strategist in Mary Robinson's election campaign, added: ‘I would like the presidential election to be about the values we hold and where we would like our country to go.'

Finlay's appearance as a possible candidate just days before the Labour Party's annual conference provided delegates with another name to conjure with for the Áras. Finlay had a high media profile, with columns in the
Evening Herald
and the
Examiner
and a diary on
RTE
's ‘Drivetime' programme. Apart from his role as
CEO
of Barnardo's he was also chairperson of Volunteering Ireland and the Dolphin House Redevelopment Board and served as a former chairperson of Special Olympics, Ireland. If selected as a candidate he would have a strong appeal among the disadvantaged,
NGO
, voluntary and caring professions and their families.

The newspaper report added fuel to the fire of speculation about who would be running for the Presidency. The Labour Party leader, Eamon Gilmore, confirmed that the party's National Executive had discussed running a presidential candidate—but they hadn't yet considered any candidate.

According to the former diplomat and journalist Eamon Delaney in that weekend's
Sunday Independent
,

Providing context for the emergence of a flurry of candidates, he continued:

As far back as March 2010 John Lee of the
Irish Mail on Sunday
reported on the ‘battle royal' that was about to take place after John Bruton emerged as firm favourite to be the Fine Gael candidate. There were no comments about the speculation from Bruton, who allowed the rumour to run unhindered by denial. ‘The matter has been discussed and I think that John Bruton would make an excellent President,' said Lucinda Creighton, the Dublin South-East
TD
who would go on to become Minister for European Affairs. Damien English, a Fine Gael
TD
from Co. Meath, also voiced his support, saying that Bruton was highly regarded internationally and that ‘he would be a fabulous candidate.' One Dublin
TD
was quoted as saying, ‘John is hugely underrated here, but he is widely respected in the international community.'

The report suggested that the speculation about and emergence of Bruton would scupper any chance for Mairead McGuinness
MEP
, also from Co. Meath.

Media speculation at the time suggested that another likely candidate would be Michael D. Higgins of the Labour Party, and that Fianna Fáil would be looking at the long-time aspirant and top Munster vote-catcher Brian Crowley
MEP
and the three-time general election winner and former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

Bruton had been appointed vice-president of the party in 2009, when another former leader, Alan Dukes, stood aside when he was appointed the public interest director of the failed Anglo Irish Bank by the Fianna Fáil-Green Government. Ironically it was a poor performance in the 1990 presidential election for Fine Gael's candidate, Austin Currie (who finished third), that propelled Bruton unchallenged into the leadership of Fine Gael after Alan Dukes was forced to resign.

As chairman of the International Financial Services Centre, Bruton had issued a number of significant statements on the country's economic status, including a populist attack on the European Central Bank for failing to act as financial crisis engulfed the country. He also issued a statement defending religious education—himself a former pupil of the exclusive Clongowes Wood College. Inevitably, this sudden flurry of media activity was viewed by politicians and those who commented on them as an attempt to raise his profile as the party began considering potential candidates.

Bruton (62), was first elected to the Dáil for Meath in 1969 and held the seat until 2004, when he was appointed the first
EU
ambassador to the United States for five years. A former vice-president of the European People's Party, he comes from a wealthy farming background in Dunboyne.

As potential candidates emerged or faded during the following eighteen months, it became clearer that this campaign was going to be different from every other race for the Áras.

David Norris, photographed as he perched on a library step-ladder, gave a telling interview to Jason O'Toole of the
Mail on Sunday
in the same month, revealing his intention to run for the Park. Norris, a Joycean scholar, was dressed in his trademark pinstripe suit, striped tie and highly polished brogues. He said he had been approached by ‘at least two' of the political parties to sound out whether he would run for them, but he said he would do so only if he could retain his independent status. Admitting that he'd like a nomination from members of the Oireachtas, he said he wouldn't rule out a nomination from Sinn Féin.

Outgoing, gregarious, outrageous in speech and manner, Norris was always willing to play up for press photographers. He seemed invariably jolly and was held in warm regard by the media for his willingness to provide provocative comment.

In May 2010 he told the
Irish Mail on Sunday
about his break-up with his long-term lover, Ezra Yizhak Nawi, an Israeli Jew, who he met in a gay bar in Dublin in the 1970s. ‘I thought I was going to suffocate from the misery,' he said. Norris finally broke with him after having turned a blind eye to his partner's promiscuous behaviour and after a succession of break-ups and make-ups.

Norris had just publicly declared his intention to seek a nomination for Áras an Uachtaráin, preferably from the Labour Party.

The
Mail on Sunday
was a missed opportunity to clear up some of his forgotten and ambiguous past, long before electors focused on the candidates. It could have cleared the decks, allowing him to prepare for a tough political campaign that would microscopically examine his past and his past pronouncements.

On
TV
3 in August he spoke frankly with the host, Ursula Halligan.

He described the Catholic Church as the greatest source of homophobia in the country, saying that gay love was still outlawed. Halligan suggested that he didn't have the support either of Oireachtas members or of county councils for getting onto the ticket. He responded in typical cheery fashion: ‘Aha, well, watch this space!'

He also spoke about how he had found his mother dead in her bed, and he revealed that he had his own gravestone prepared for a cemetery in Co. Laois where his great-grandfathers are buried. ‘I lay down on it to see what it was like,' he said. ‘Lovely!'

Norris had also discussed his homosexuality, in some detail, with Ryan Tubridy on ‘The Late Late Show' a short time before.

His frank comments were to prompt questions. Why did he feel the need to go into such detail? He was the most famous gay person in the country, and probably in Irish history, after Oscar Wilde. So why should his bedroom habits become part of the national discourse about the Presidency? Who would ever have prompted a discussion about the bedroom habits of the present or former incumbents?

The columnist Jennifer O'Connell in the
Sunday Business Post
perhaps put her finger on the pulse of the issue.