Mary Lou McDonald rules herself out of Irish presidential race

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald has ruled herself out as the party’s nominee for president.

Ms McDonald said it was her priority to “lead from the front” in holding the current Fianna Fail-Fine Gael coalition to account and offer an alternative government.

She said it was worthwhile to test “every proposition” in relation to a candidate and said the party was at the “final” stages in deciding its approach to the presidency.

Speaking in Dun Laoghaire ahead of the party’s think-in, Ms McDonald said the party was at the “final stages” of deciding whether it would run its own candidate or back an independent, such as left-wing hopeful Catherine Connolly.

She said announcing its decision on September 20, just a month before polling day, was “plenty of time” for a presidential campaign.

Outlining her reasons for not running, Ms McDonald said her efforts had to remain on holding the Irish government to account as the leader of the opposition in the Dail.

“I have concluded that my role remains very firmly within the Dail, leading this team of Sinn Fein representatives, but also working with others to ensure that the government is held to account in the here and now, and critically, to ensure that when it comes to the next general election, that there is a viable and real alternative government on offer to the Irish people.

“That’s the election that I have my eye and my focus on.”

Ms McDonald was asked if First Minister Michelle O’Neill, Donegal TD Pearse Doherty, or Mayo TD Rose Conway Walsh could be the party’s nominee instead.

“You’ve mentioned some names of people whose names might be in the mix, there are potentially others,” she said.

Asked about Gerry Adams as a possible candidate, she said she would say his name is “very definitively not in the mix, but I’m not going to presume any of that”.

She said that the other option was to back an independent candidate such as Ms Connolly, who has sought the backing of Sinn Fein.

Ms Connolly, who is a strong voice on Palestine and neutrality, secured the backing of a variety of other opposition parties to become the first candidate in the race in July.

Ms McDonald said that Ms Connolly “is in the hat” if Sinn Fein does not run its own candidate and said she was “clearly front and centre” in relation to other independents.

Asked about Ms Connolly’s support for former MEPs Clare Daly and Mick Wallace, Ms McDonald said: “Any broad-based campaign, by a definition, is broad based. Certainly, if I were a person seeking to be elected as Uachtaran na hEireann, you would go and smartly ascertain what kind of coalition you could gather together to support your presidency.”

She said that whoever the next president of Ireland is needs to be clear about Ireland’s constitutional future and said Ms Connolly is “a person who shares a lot of our values”.

“I was very pleased actually to hear Catherine Connolly state very clearly that she is a supporter and advocate for Irish reunification, and not in some dim and distant future, but in the here and now.”

She added: “I believe that we have the winning of this campaign. I believe that it is entirely possible for somebody, a candidate beyond Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, to win this election and to become the next president of Ireland.”

Asked whether Sinn Fein councillors are being asked not to endorse independents pitching to councils between now and September 20, Ms McDonald said “we’re not issuing an instruction”.

“There isn’t a whip being imposed, if that’s what you’re asking. They will go to their meetings, they will listen. They will hear what people have to say. But of course, our priority and our focus is on the decision that we will collectively arrive at.”

“Our councillors are very sensible people with a lot of cop on.”

The presidential race is expected to gather pace this week as local authorities hear pitches from candidate hopefuls and big parties set out their election stalls.

Polling day has been confirmed as Friday October 24 and nominations for candidates will close a month before that.

With seven weeks to go before votes are cast, there are two confirmed candidates in the race.

Fianna Fail is expected to confirm the third on Tuesday when it hosts a head-to-head between a popular Cork parliamentarian and a Dublin sporting hero.

Former Dublin football manager and retired army officer Jim Gavin has the public backing of senior party figures, while MEP and former junior minister Billy Kelleher appears to have more of a battle ahead of him.

The parliamentary party will vote for its preferred candidate by secret ballot, possibly offering an element of drama.

To run as a presidential candidate, a person must be an Irish citizen over the age of 35 and nominated by either 20 Irish parliamentarians or by four local authorities.

There are 174 TDs and 60 senators in the Irish parliament, with Fianna Fail (48), Sinn Fein (39) and Fine Gael (38) commanding enough support in the Dail to put forward their own candidates.

Ms Connolly was the first candidate to publicly gather the required support.

The Galway TD has faced questions over a trip to Syria in 2018 and her description of ex-MEPs Clare Daly and Mick Wallace as “like-minded”.

Former social protection minister Heather Humphreys, Fine Gael’s presidential nominee, is expected to launch her campaign officially in the coming days.

She has already faced questions over an abandoned policy that would have seen disabled people in receipt of social welfare medically assessed every five years.

A number of celebrities and high-profile figures have expressed their interest in the role in recent months.

Their most likely route to secure the nomination to become a presidential candidate is through 31 councils.

Former weather forecaster Joanna Donnelly and Riverdance star Michael Flatley announced last week that they would no longer be looking to become candidates.

Mr Flatley said he had to put his family and health first, while Ms Donnelly said she came to understand she was “underprepared” for a tilt at the Aras, just days after publicly declaring her interest.

Mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor has also appealed to the public to convince councillors to nominate him, while millionaire entrepreneur Gareth Sheridan, previous presidential candidate Peter Casey, and independent Nick Delehanty have also said they would look to be nominated through the council route.

On Monday, around a dozen candidates were addressing Kerry County Council to pitch why they should be nominated as a presidential candidate.

The outgoing president Michael D Higgins has been in the role since 2011, having served the maximum two terms.