The Race for the Áras (20 page)

However, he blamed Fianna Fáil's unpopularity for ‘snookering' his own presidential ambitions. He had considered running, he said. ‘I still would have done all right. I mean, they have done some figures and I would probably sit in around 30 per cent, which you haven't a hope, as the party is on 20 per cent.' He added that ‘the party popularity is the thing that snookers it, because if your party isn't winnable … if there was no downturn and if it wasn't all the hassle of the tribunals and everything else, then you could have had a good run at it.' Based on his experience when he was Taoiseach fourteen years earlier, he predicted that ‘nobody is going to win it outright—like Mary McAleese had it won on the first count.'

On Thursday 8 September both Mitchell and Davis unveiled their posters. Davis's showed the candidate with a new hair bob and wearing a striking red dress with the slogan
Pride at home, respect abroad
. Mitchell's poster showed him in a statesmanlike pose, with a tag line
TD
for 26 years,
MEP
for 7 years
—and the slogan
Pride at home, respect abroad
.

A
REDC
opinion poll for Paddy Power on the same day showed that Higgins remained firmly in the lead, with 36 per cent support, Mitchell in second place at 24 per cent, Gallagher at 21 per cent, and Davis moving up most, with a four-point gain, to 19 per cent.

Disturbingly for the four candidates, the poll also showed that one in three wouldn't vote for any of the candidates on offer. This was good news for two potential independent candidates who were reported to be taking soundings from
TD
s and senators.

‘An independent President, working with like-minded
TD
s and senators, can be a real transforming force in Ireland,' wrote Justin Kilcullen, director of Trócaire, to parliamentarians. His letter set out his vision of ‘social, economic and environmental justice'. Separately, Fianna Fáil and independent
TD
s were being canvassed for their support by the former presidential candidate Dana.

 

Meanwhile a two-day campaign was launched to collect thousands of signatures to have Norris re-enter the race. Acting independently of Norris, Ronan Mooney had recruited forty volunteers who would take to the streets in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Sligo and Galway. The campaign was also run on Twitter and Facebook. It was prompted and informed by the report of an Oireachtas committee in 1998 recommending that a petition by ten thousand citizens should be sufficient for nominating a candidate.

A week earlier the
Sunday Independent
's opinion poll had sparked a debate and campaign action to bring Norris back into the race. On the afternoon of Saturday 10 September he returned from his holiday home in Cyprus and called a meeting of his supporters for the following evening. That morning's
Sunday Independent
led with an explosive exclusive by Jerome Reilly, headed ‘Senator David Norris plans to re-enter the race for president.' It reported that Norris had decided to make the announcement ‘after signs of support from Fianna Fáil.' He would possibly make the formal announcement on the following week's ‘Late Late Show', where he had been booked as a guest.

A compelling argument was emerging for Norris's re-emergence, a senior Fianna Fáil figure told the
Sunday Independent
:

The signature campaign had also gained ground: in Dublin and Cork voters formed queues to sign the petition to bring Norris back, while seven thousand had signed the online petition.

Senator John Crown, the Socialist Party
TD
s Joe Higgins and Clare Daly and the independent deputies Luke ‘Ming' Flanagan and Maureen O'Sullivan confirmed their continuing support for his candidacy. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett of People Before Profit confirmed that he would back Norris ‘in the absence of any credible left-wing candidate emerging, which now appears very unlikely.' His colleague Joan Collins
TD
was expected to give her backing too, if asked.

But for Norris there were practical campaign problems to be addressed when the remaining members of his campaign team met later that day. Funds previously raised had either been spent or been returned to the donors. Key people had resigned from the campaign, and they would have to be replaced. And he had to win a nomination. But time was ticking away: it was Sunday 11 September, and he had only sixteen more days in which to secure the signatures of twenty members of the Oireachtas.

As Norris was meeting his team, Fianna Fáil
TD
s and senators were throwing cold water on the suggestion that he would get their support. Two said he had been rude and dismissive of their potential support, ‘and basically thumbed his nose at us' when he thought he could pick up twenty nominations without Fianna Fáil support. Others cited the Nawi clemency plea as a reason for not offering him support. Senator Thomas Byrne explained: ‘I couldn't see how the party could back Senator Norris, given the letter that came to light.'

 

At the weekend Sinn Féin held its annual ard-fheis in the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, the first time it had been held north of the border. In his address on Saturday evening as president of the party, Gerry Adams said there was now an ‘entirely peaceful way' to achieve national unity. ‘Our duty is to develop democratic ways and means to achieve Irish reunification and to unite behind the leadership and the campaigns which will bring this about,' he said.

He referred to the presidential campaign, saying the Presidency was not a trophy for the political establishment. Significantly, he added: ‘Citizens from all parts of Ireland must be able to vote in presidential elections. Irish citizens living abroad—as is the case with many other states—should have the right to vote also.' But he did not say whether or not the party would advance a candidate.

The following day the
Belfast Telegraph
released an opinion poll showing that 91 per cent of those polled were in favour of Sinn Féin running a candidate for the Park. Paddy Power bookies had been accepting bets on Martin McGuinness winning the office at odds of 25 to 1.

‘I don't know what the party is going to decide,' McGuinness responded. ‘I hadn't even considered the prospect of that, and I don't know where the bookies got my name, but we will see what happens over the next while.'

On the Monday and Tuesday a depleted Fianna Fáil parliamentary party met in Tallaght for their annual ‘think-in' before the autumn Dáil session. Seán Gallagher and Mary Davis had just secured enough nominations to get on the ballot paper. But for Micheál Martin the Presidency was not a priority; the economy, unemployment, jobs and mortgage arrears would dominate the agenda. ‘We have decided to take a collective approach in terms of any options that take place between now and polling day,' he said, and he confirmed that the party had received no formal approach from either of the three potential independent candidates, Dana, Norris or Kilcullen.

The
Evening Herald
columnist Anna Nolan wrote that Norris's thinking about re-entering the race

Chapter
10
   
LATE ENTRANTS

‘L
iving in a big house, sleeping late and working on his golf game—what's not to like?' That's how one character summed up the Presidency; but he confessed that he was immediately sold on the idea of running for the Presidency when told that the pay was ‘something in the order of €325,000 a year.' The
Irish Times
had the story exclusively on Wednesday 14 September. It also published his eleven-point manifesto, which, while Dublin-centred, had evolved from his numerous publications dealing with his views on life and living.

The only problem was that the candidate was fictitious. Ross O'Carroll-Kelly was the hugely successful creation of the journalist Paul Howard, who had a play, numerous books, a very funny Twitter account and a weekly column in the
Irish Times
. He had also been nominated for the inaugural journalism awards for his biting satirical look at modern life through the eyes of the Senior Cup medal-winner, Leinster fan and all-round archetypal rugger bugger and bad boy, Ross.

The significance of the joke was that the public too were joking, not so much about who should run for the Presidency but who
hadn't
been asked to run, such was the proliferation of would-be candidates. There was a growing cynicism and a feeling that the publicity surrounding speculation about candidates was self-serving, and this manifested itself in public discourse and chatter on radio programmes.

Some of O'Carroll-Kelly's laugh-out-loud manifesto promises included the proposal that the Superquinn shopping centre in Blackrock, Co. Dublin, the Berkeley Court Hotel, Renard's club and the corner of Croke Park where Shane Horgan scored against England in 2007 should be preserved as part of our rich cultural heritage, similar to the Rock of Cashel and Newgrange. The new national anthem should be ‘Ireland's Call', and the Presidential Salute should be replaced by a ‘high five'.

His solution to the housing crisis was straightforward: people forced to trade down in the property market should be allowed to bring their postal district numbers with them, while Malahide, Howth, Clontarf and Portmarnock should be given the new code Dublin 4
N
, while Ringsend and Irishtown should be redesignated Dublin 4
E
. Or surrendered to the sea.

While Ross O'Carroll-Kelly was a fictional human character, an even more surreal character—a puppet, a talking turkey, the infamous ‘fowl-mouthed' Dustin—still had his hat in the ring and was being reported in the media.

 

The uncertainty surrounding Fianna Fáil's final position was resulting in a fracturing within the party among its elected representatives. In Cork, Councillor Kenneth O'Flynn announced that he was taking over as regional campaign manager for Seán Gallagher. He was the son of a former
TD
, Noel O'Flynn of Cork North-Central, who had regularly won publicity and controversy by outspokenly opposing party policy. He had decided to step down at the last election, giving a party colleague, the poll-topper and former minister of state Billy Kelleher, a free run as the only Fianna Fáil candidate in the Cork North-Central constituency.

After the general election Micheál Martin issued to councillors a list of his ten favoured candidates for the Seanad, urging them to put the selected ten into the Seanad before other party candidates. He included Kenneth O'Flynn on his list for the Industrial panel. O'Flynn was unsuccessful.

Doorstepped by the media at the party's think-in, Micheál Martin said that O'Flynn's involvement with Gallagher's campaign was a matter for himself and that he was not breaking any rules ‘at this stage' by his decision.

But now a new name emerged, that of Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú (72) of Cashel, Co. Tipperary (elected without featuring among the favoured ten), who was now being speculated about as a presidential candidate. He was the long-serving director-general of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann and was seen in Fianna Fáil as having the potential to attract a republican vote that would probably otherwise go to a Sinn Féin candidate. On Wednesday the 14th Ó Murchú confirmed his intention to seek a nomination as an independent candidate. He had already secured the support of seventeen Fianna Fáil and independent
TD
s, only three short of the number required for a nomination.

Ó Murchú's traditional Fianna Fáil image was not how Martin wanted to project a reformed and renewed party, and his confirmation would lead to questions about the authority of the leader and his ability to guide and control his own party. It would prove a damaging affair in the short term for the party.

At midday on Thursday a group of senators and nine independent
TD
s (of the total number of twenty-nine independent
TD
s and senators who had been invited) assembled in Leinster House. The meeting was arranged by Finian McGrath
TD
to allow Justin Kilcullen and Mary Davis (who already had a nomination secured from county councils) to address them and make a case for their support. However, Kilcullen contacted the group the previous evening and told them he was withdrawing. Supporters of David Norris now asked if he could be substituted at the meeting, sending a clear signal that he wanted to get back into the race.

‘There has been a groundswell of public opinion and annoyance that David can't stand,' said the independent
TD
Maureen O'Sullivan, ‘and they should think about giving him the opportunity, regardless of how they feel about him politically or personally.' Outside Leinster house Norris responded to waiting reporters: ‘I won't be making any comment, because I made an agreement that I'm making no comment. So, there will be no comment.' Under his arm he held the 10,000 signatures gathered from the Mooney web site,
wewantnorris.com
, and the two-day street campaign. He had agreed to give his decision exclusively to ‘The Late Late Show' the following evening.

However, when Finian McGrath met reporters outside Leinster House minutes later he was happy to answer questions. Did Senator Norris ask for their support? ‘Yes, he did. David looked for the support of the members at the meeting, and the members said they'd all reflect on it.'

As McGrath finished talking to reporters, Fianna Fáil senators and
TD
s began assembling in their party room for their two o'clock meeting, unaware that they were about to start a new drama that would grip headline-writers over the next few days.

Senator Ó Murchú told the twenty-three members present that he had the support of six independent
TD
s and senators and expected to secure four more. He wanted to run as an independent candidate with the support of some of Fianna Fáil's Oireachtas members, and he asked that the meeting have a free vote on his proposal.

The declaration sparked a fierce row, variously described by participants as ‘utter chaos', ‘consternation', ‘acrimonious' and ‘bitter'.

The tense meeting ran for six hours, with a break for tea at six o'clock and a further brief adjournment as Micheál Martin took a couple of senior party members to another room—the chairperson of the parliamentary party, John Browne
TD
of Wexford, and the party whip, Seán Ó Fearghail
TD
of Kildare South—to try to hammer out a pacifying response. He subsequently consulted two advisers separately.

One member described the meeting as ‘utter f
ing chaos,' as the debate mirrored continuing resentment over the party leader's favoured ten Seanad nominees. Ó Murchú, now a four-time Seanad vote-winner, had not been included on the list.

The deputy leader, Éamon Ó Cuív, who had topped the poll in Galway West and was once tipped as a presidential candidate for the party, threatened to resign his position if Martin's proposal that the party not nominate a candidate was voted on. There were calls of ‘Come back, Éamon, we love you'; and the meeting, described by another participant as a ‘bitchfest', continued. Ó Cuív would subsequently deny speculation that he wanted to walk away from Fianna Fáil and set up a new party.

Senator Mark Daly, a former assistant to Brian Crowley
MEP
, was also to hold out hope that Crowley could be re-considered as a candidate. ‘I would be hoping that if Brian Crowley is entering the race, support for him could be discussed.'

A motion by Martin that the party would not contest the presidential election or endorse a candidate was not put to the meeting, whereupon Ó Cuív said he would have to vote against such a motion if it were put.

Finally, Ó Murchú, who had threatened to press on with his candidacy, backed down and agreed to wait until a resumed meeting the following Tuesday, when the absent eight
TD
s and senators would be present. The party, riven with dissent, was in disarray over its policy and possible candidature for the Áras.

On the
RTE
radio programme ‘Morning Ireland' the following day Ó Murchú disputed the tone and the accuracy of that morning's media coverage and asserted that Micheál Martin was ‘a charismatic leader.'

The Fianna Fáil presidential pantomime was far from over. ‘Oh no, it's not,' said the headline over Miriam Lord's Dáil Sketch in the
Irish Times
.

At the weekend her colleague political editor Stephen Collins characterised the latest twist in the Fianna Fáil presidential debate as a sad reflection on the party's discipline.

He reported one
TD
as telling him: ‘The party has been hijacked by a bunch of elderly senators who got elected by spending their time in safe Fianna Fáil houses, while we faced the wrath of the electorate. They haven't a clue about what is happening in the real world.'

After the nine o'clock news the anticipated ‘Late Late Show' interview with Norris took place—but it was a damp squib, as the news was already out. Norris was going to try to win a nomination, again. ‘This would be the biggest political comeback in Irish political history,' Norris told his host, Ryan Tubridy, with his usual theatrical flamboyance, confirming the earlier revelation by McGrath. However, he declined to say who would support his nomination, saying, ‘This is a poker game.' But he claimed to have received three thousand email messages in support of his return to the fray and hundreds of letters. ‘I'm not perfect, and I'm not pretending to be perfect. If you're waiting for a perfect President you'll be waiting for a long time.'

Explaining why he had written the Nawi letter, Norris said he hoped he would never reject an appeal for help. If he helped strangers, how could he not help someone for whom he had feelings, even if he was flawed? he asked. Further pressed, he said he was ‘appalled, shocked and horrified' after he heard about his ex-partner's conviction. ‘I did not condone or excuse it. I abhor the abuse of children.'

Norris was credited with giving ‘The Late Late Show' an audience boost of 200,000, bringing the viewing figure up to an astonishing 744,000.