Prospect of unity left-wing candidate for presidential election looking increasingly unlikely
WITH LESS THAN six months to go until the presidential election, the prospect of a unity left-wing candidate may be slipping away.
The idea was proposed by Labour leader Ivana Bacik after last year's general election, when parties of the left failed to secure the numbers needed to deliver a left-wing government.
Bacik reached out to the Social Democrats and the sole Green TD Roderic O'Gorman about joining forces and backing one candidate.
In a move that appears to have irked some in Labour, Social Democrats acting leader Cian O'Callaghan then extended the invite to People Before Profit-Solidarity and Sinn Féin.
While the party leaders have met to discuss potential candidates a number of times, Sinn Féin has still not fully committed to the idea.
A difference of opinion has also taken hold between the Social Democrats and Labour.
Sources from the Social Democrats and People Before Profit have indicated that senator Frances Black and Independent TD Catherine Connolly are the two most serious potential candidates currently being discussed, with Connolly seeming to have a slight edge.
One source said there is now 'good enthusiasm' for Connolly among most parties involved in the talks, with her being seen as a 'credible candidate who could hold her own in debates'.
The Labour Party are not as enthused though, with multiple sources in other parties putting this down to the fact that Connolly resigned from the Labour Party in 2006.
Sources in Labour, however, have said their opposition to her is due to some of her foreign policy stances, specifically her stance on Syria in the past.
In 2017, Connolly visited Syria under the Bashar al-Assad regime alongside then-TDs Clare Daly and Mick Wallace and subsequently called for sanctions on the country to be lifted in the Dáil.
Other names
'There's no big candidate in a box waiting to be announced,' is how one Labour source put it.
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Asked who they would like to see get the nomination, the TD said: 'Nobody. I will struggle to adapt to a post-Michael D world.'
Among the other names understood to be under consideration at the moment are former director at the World Health Organisation, Mike Ryan, and human rights lawyer Noeline Blackwell.
Rumours have even been flying that Liveline's Joe Duffy is being courted by the Labour Party.
Asked about Mike Ryan as a possible candidate, a Labour TD said: ' Who doesn't love Mike Ryan? He's an absolute legend.
'I think there would be a huge amount of goodwill towards him, but we don't know any of his views really.'
A different Labour TD said that it will be difficult to build support for any candidate who isn't coming from within the party.
The Sinn Féin question
The other big question hanging over the whole affair at the moment is whether Sinn Féin are in or out.
The party recently wrote to its membership seeking input on whether they should go it alone and run their own candidate, or join forces with the other parties.
A deadline of early June has been put in place for views.
Sinn Féin sources have said they are still interested in the idea of a unity candidate, but that the process still feels 'tentative'.
Members of the other parties are also still of the view that Sinn Féin are interested in running a unity candidate, but as one TD said: 'They have their own resources so could do anything.'
There is also the issue that, for many in the Labour Party, Sinn Féin do
not have proper 'left-wing' credentials.
It is understood that a number of people approached by Labour about running took issue with the idea of being backed by Sinn Féin.
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