The council voted not to put forward any presidential candidates
Council vote not to put forward a candidate
This presidential election will be the first since 1990 with no candidate nominated by city and county councils.
South Dublin County Council was among the many local authorities that voted not to put forward any candidates, after a special meeting on Friday, September 19.
There was a deflated air in the meeting, which took place after a long private council session during which 14 prospective candidates had RSVP’d to address – just five showed up.
Comments from independent councillors and party groupings indicated that while the presentations from the five had been “respectful”, they were “unpersuasive” and not one seemed to truly understand the role of the president.
The joint motion from Cllrs Mick Duff, Liona O’Toole, Helen Farrell and Francis Timmons to not nominate any candidate was initially agreed unanimously.
However, after Cllr Paddy Holohan (Ind) pushed for a roll call vote so that he could be registered as abstaining, having earlier called the entire election process for president “undemocratic”, the motion was passed with 30 votes in favour and two abstentions.
The only candidates to get any council nominations were Dublin businessman Garth Sheridan, who only secured two, and former mayor of Cork Kieran McCarthy, who only secured a nomination from Waterford County Council, both falling short of the minimum four required to get on the ballot.
No candidate was able to secure a place on the ballot paper via the Oireachtas nominations process either, as independent candidate Maria Steen was still two shy of the required 20 signatures from TDs and senators ahead of the noon deadline on Wednesday, September 24.
Sinn Fein officially declared themselves for Catherine Connolly on Saturday, meaning the former Leas-Cheann Comhairle is now backed by all major parties of the left-wing opposition.
Posters have already begun to crop up for her campaign following its official launch in Smithfield on Tuesday night.
With just two other candidates confirmed for the race to the Áras – Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys and former Dublin manager Jim Gavin for Fianna Fáil – Irish voters will face a much less crowded ballot sheet compared to previous elections.
Funded by The Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
