Seán Kelly to seek Fine Gael nomination to run in presidential election

Irish Times

14 hours ago

Fine Gael
MEP
Seán Kelly
has announced his intention to seek the party's nomination to run in the forthcoming presidential election.
A contest between Mr Kelly and former minister
Heather Humphreys
became increasingly likely
on Monday night after the party's executive council decided to seek fresh nominations
rather than selecting a single candidate.
The meeting was convened after the sudden announcement on Thursday by party nominee
Mairead McGuinness
that
she was dropping out of the race for health reasons
.
Speaking on Tuesday morning, the Ireland South MEP said that he had 'underestimated' the grassroots support for him and that he will 'certainly seek the nomination' from his party.
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'So I would be looking for the nomination, and after that, and if I'm nominated, I will be greatly honoured to represent the party and stand for election as president,' Mr Kelly told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
Mr Kelly said he believed the 'time is right' to put himself forward, after discussing it with family and supporters, in light of the changed circumstances following the decision by Ms McGuinness to withdraw from the race.
The former president of the GAA said that having spent time in Ireland over the last few weeks, he understood that he had grassroots support and momentum as many people had told him they were disappointed that he was not running for the Áras.
Mr Kelly had previously ruled himself out of running. He considered contesting the nomination against Ms McGuinness earlier in summer, but he ultimately decided against it.
After deliberating for little over an hour on Monday evening, Fine Gael's executive council decided it would reopen nominations on Tuesday until September 2nd.
Ms Humphreys, who also previously ruled herself out, has yet to declare her intentions.
However, party sources have said that following the vacation of the nomination by Ms McGuinness, she has expressed strong interest in representing the party in the autumn poll. Her candidacy has been strongly backed by Tánaiste and party leader
Simon Harris
.
Last month, Mr Kelly had ruled himself out of the contest by saying the presidency was a largely 'ceremonial' role.
He appeared to walk those comments back on Tuesday, and said that his comment 'was in comparison to presidents around the world who have executive powers.'
'But I think actually there's a huge potential in the job, it is the highest honour in Ireland. And if you look at what the last number of presidents have done, they've done tremendous work. There's huge flexibility there,' he said.
He said that a remark he made in ruling himself out that 'a day out of Kerry was a day wasted' was a 'a tongue in cheek' comment.
'I'd be bringing the Áras to the people as much as the people to the Áras, so that's not a problem at all.'
Mr Kelly said that he will now start lobbying for support from the Fine Gael parliamentary party.
He will need the support of at least 20 TDs and senators.
It is understood Ms Humphreys already has the overwhelming support of Fine Gael's parliamentary party, despite having not yet formally started lobbying for support.
Mr Kelly said that he believes Fine Gael's base would like to see a contest for its presidential candidates.
'I think the people, particularly members of the party, would like to have a contest. We didn't have a contest for a long time now, because we didn't have a contest at the last presidential election seven years ago, we didn't have a contest for the leadership.
'We weren't going to have a contest when Mairead got the nomination, so I think people would like to have a contest. Contests are good for parties, are good for democracies, and I think that I would welcome a contest, and hope I'd be part of it.'