Get set for the presidential election, the dirtiest in Irish politics

Irish Daily Mirror

29-07-2025

Politics is a dirty game, but it doesn't get grubbier than the presidential election. The race for the Áras has suddenly got more interesting with the news that Michael Flatley is to seek a nomination to run.
The Irish-American dancer will make a bid as President, his High Court case over his Castlehyde mansion heard last week. But if the Riverdancer goes for it, he needs to be prepared for the toughest and roughest contest in Irish politics.
Campaigns are known controversies, scandals and shock revelations. Fake tweets, mud-slinging, smears and anonymous letters are all part of the game. Front runners - such as Brian Lenihan in 1990 and Sean Gallagher in 2011 - were taken out at the last minute. Celebrity candidates such as Eurovision singer Dana and charity boss Adi Roche were put through the wringer.
Dana recalled it as a "a truly terrible time", while Roche described it as "mental torture". Even two-term Michael D Higgins was deemed "too old" and his predecessor Mary McAleese was called a "tribal time bomb".
David Norris' bid was one of the biggest surprises, with the senator being pummelled throughout the campaign until he was eventually forced to stand down. Political pundit Ivan Yates described entering the race as "a punishment beating - it's open f***ing season on your life". David Norris pulled out of the presidential race
Since the role was created by Eamon De Valera in 1937, it's been controversial. De Valera, who served two terms as president himself, once joked: "I wanted to create a nice quiet job without too much work in my old age."
In 1973, there was a poignant battle between Fine Gael's Tom O'Higgins and winner Erskine Childers, whose families were on either side of the Civil War. Erskine's father had been executed by the Free State authorities, while his rival's uncle Kevin O'Higgins was the justice minister who signed the orders.
But it wasn't until the 1990s that the contest got really intense. Labour candidate Mary Robinson was believed to have derailed her campaign when she gave, what was then, a controversial interview with Hot Press magazine.
She told the publication that she would officiate at a stall selling contraceptives, which led to a newspaper calling the interview "the longest suicide note in history". Mary Robinson
Her team initially said she was misquoted, but then the journalist Liam Fay produced an audio recording of it. Then Mary Robinson was subjected to a cutting personal attack from Fianna Fáil politician Padraig Flynn.
He accused her of having a "new-found interest in her family" as part of her public persona in pursuit of the presidency. But it was all nothing compared to the scandal that engulfed her rival, Fianna Fáil's Brian Lenihan Snr.
He gave an interview with an academic researcher of how he had been involved in controversial attempts to pressurise President Patrick Hillery not to dissolve the Dáil in 1982.
But in an RTÉ interview, he said: "I want to say I'm absolutely certain on mature recollection I did not ring President Hillery. And I want to put my reputation on the line in that respect."
It led to Fianna Fáil leader Charlie Haughey firing him a week out from the election. It triggered a sympathy vote for Lenihan, who nearly caught up with eventual winner Robinson.
She made a veiled reference to Flynn's jibe when she later thanked the women of Ireland who voted for her and, "instead of rocking the cradle, rocked the system".
Chernobyl children's charity boss Roche had a particularly bruising time in 1997. Anonymous letters were sent to national media outlets which falsely alleged her brother Donal de Roiste had IRA connections.
Some were followed up by phone calls, saying: "Do we want somebody so close to the Provos in the Aras?" The smear campaign against Roche's campaign was vicious and entirely baseless.
Dana was taken out with an attack on her family during her second attempt at the presidency in 2011. Accusations were made against her brother, John Brown, in the middle of the campaign. Dana (Image: BBC)
She called the claims "vile, malicious and untruthful". He was acquitted of historic child sexual abuse charges in 2014. At one stage, it was suggested her car tyres had been knifed and there was a plot to kill her. She said afterwards: "No, I don't regret anything I've done but that was a truly terrible time."
Former senator David Norris withdrew from the presidential campaign following the controversy over letters he wrote to the Israeli authorities seeking clemency for his former partner in relation to a serious crime.
It finally led the academic and gay activist to pull out of the race, dramatically quoting Samuel Beckett: "Ever tried. Ever failed. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."
Perhaps one of the biggest surprises in a presidential election was the takedown of 2011's front runner Sean Gallagher. Cavan entrepreneur and Dragons Den star Gallagher was set to walk into the Áras when it all went drastically wrong.
Standing as an Independent, he was the favourite until he was unable to answer questions about his Fianna Fáil past. At the time, the party's brand was toxic, after the financial crash bailout, recession and persistent accusations of cronyism and corruption.
The tweet that downed Gallagher's 2011 presidential campaign was fake news before the term had entered the public's consciousness. Gallagher was set to win.
But in the final TV debate, before a live studio audience on RTÉ, a malicious tweet was read out by Pat Kenny, which falsely claimed a man had given him money for a Fianna Fáil fundraiser. Former presidential candidate Sean Gallagher (Image: Colin Keegan, Collins, Dublin)
A momentarily panicked Gallagher said he had "no recollection" of "an envelope". To many people, that response was an unfortunate reminder of previous Fianna Fail scandals.
His campaign could not recover and he ultimately lost to Michael D Higgins. However, Gallagher later received substantial damages and an apology from RTÉ over the false allegations.
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