Séan Gallagher, there’s a name to conjure up surprises. He’s
back and ready to pick up from where he left off, Soon county councils will
hear the patter of tiny feet as he appeals to councillors to nominate him to
run for the Arás. He won’t be on his own. Gerard Craughwell seems to have
changed tack and rather than look for 20 independent members of the Oireachtas
to nominate him, he’s going on the council route too in his bid.
And that leaves Sinn Fein who will by the week end set out
who they will run as President Michael D Higgins nominates himself to run for a
second term. Opinion polls this far out from an election are unpredictable.
Election 18 will be a
very different campaign to the last one.
7 years ago FF was in disarray and unwilling to openly nominate and so
it was that Séan Gallagher almost made it to the Arás until fate intervened.
Gallagher will have no problem getting the nomination from FF controlled
councils are there are many more now than there were when he first ran. Where
he may have problems is how he is perceived by the electorate. His campaign
fell apart when he inadvertently used the word envelope as he defended his role
as a Fianna Fail moneyman. People are often forgiving of a person’s personal
failings but when it comes to clumsy use of language in a debate he may
discover that his support is not as high as before.
Craughwell comes across as angry in the media. He called on
the President to clarify his position, when he does, he claims it’s an establishment
stitch up. Michael D Higgins has been called a lot in the past, but
establishment is a new one on me. I wonder how many of President Higgins
speeches Craughwell reads? His speech in
Wexford in 2011 on the anniversary of the execution of James Connolly when he
unveiled the lock out gates was hardly an off the shelf 2 minute routine.
Rather it was a critique of the established values which brought us to where we
are today. Likewise his tribute to Fidel Castro when he died stood apart from
the response of all other European heads of state. His embrace of dialectic and
intellect is the polar opposite of what I’ve always understood the
establishment to be. But it suits
Craughwell to portray Higgins as establishment rather than make his own case as
to how his presidency could be different. I don’t know what Craughwell will
stand for if he is elected.
Sinn Fein simply want to run because they have plenty of money
and will seize the chance to run in any election where neither Fianna Fail
(officially) nor Fine Gael will field a candidate. SF tell us they want to have a conversation
about women, travellers, minorities, marginalised. Where they get a candidate
from each one of those backgrounds is their challenge. I note that after 34
years of Gerry Adams, SF didn’t have a conversation within its own party as to
who the new President should be. The good news is that they think the rest of
us should have a conversation and in time they will give us a candidate to
facilitate this. Let’s be frank about it, it’s not about winning for SF, its
all about having their name on a ballot paper and poster for 4 weeks during the
campaign.
For what it’s worth, I believe the President should be either
an experienced politician or someone who has legal experience. Why? Because the
Presidency is 2 things; a president whose values reflect where society is when
the President is chosen and also someone who may need to make legal decisions
that impact on the Oireachtas or our courts. Simply being able to spot a gap in
the market for an investment doesn’t give you that ability.
That’s what the job should be. But in keeping with previous
Presidential elections you can bet your bottom dollar that this one will be as
dirty as ever.
