Arrival of new and unknown candidate in presidential election injects some life into dull race
The high level of coverage garnered by businessman Gareth Sheridan came from a combination of his newness to the public stage, his age and, if we're being frank, a media which wants the race to kick off while it stubbornly refuses.
One might think it would be sensible in a personality-driven race to take advantage of the fallow summer months news-wise and be in attendance at every agricultural show or public event you can find, but there is a wariness this time around due to a number of factors.
Firstly, the elephant in all of the rooms owned by large political parties — money. While the figure often bandied about for a presidential run is €250,000, one informed source said the real cost to political parties could be anywhere up to three times as much.
While none of the major political entities is broke, running three elections last year has drained the coffers somewhat. According to election spending reports published recently, Fianna Fáil had just €470,000 in cash at the end of the year. The party has this year run a "superdraw" raffle, understood to have brought in about €600,000. For Fine Gael, it had €1.7m on hand at the same time.
Both parties paled in comparison to Sinn Féin, which finished the year with €4.6m in cash.
While the chance to dominate the airwaves and column inches might be tempting, moving a candidate across the country requires time and resources, which teams are loathe to do.
Secondly, there is the acknowledgment the campaign itself will be short, but gruelling. Fine Gael's candidate, former European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness acknowledged this in her letter of acceptance for the nomination, when she told supporters: "I do hope that you manage to get to enjoy some down time with family and friends before September."
While the race is currently being held at walking pace, it will turn into a full-on sprint come September, and burning out your team, candidate and the public before the real business begins is a short-sighted plan with so much left to play for.
Thirdly, the field is not yet clear, so it's not obvious where either of the two confirmed candidates — Ms McGuinness and Galway TD Catherine Connolly — should be pitching themselves.
While Sinn Féin is expected to make a decision at some point in August, Fianna Fáil members are not expecting a candidate to be confirmed until its think-in in Cork next month.
Unless, of course, the party opts not to run a candidate and allows Mr Sheridan become something of a proxy candidate, similar to how it approached Sean Gallagher's run in 2011. While the idea has been floated online, many in Fianna Fáil were quick to pour cold water on it, saying Mr Sheridan's association with independent senator Sharon Keogan would be one stumbling block, given her frequent criticism of the Government, as would Mr Sheridan's previous low profile and lack of public service.
But, beyond that, there is only a handful within the party who do not believe it should have its own candidate.
"We're the biggest party in the Oireachtas, we have to compete," said one TD.
While some drew a straight line between Mr Sheridan's emergence this week and Fianna Fáil's lack of a candidate, it does not appear that straightforward.
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RTÉ News
7 minutes ago
- RTÉ News
Trump and Putin to spar over Ukraine peace and arms control at Alaska summit
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will hold talks in Alaska later today, with the US president's hopes of sealing a ceasefire agreement on Ukraine uncertain but with a last gasp offer from Mr Putin of a possible nuclear deal that could help both men save face. The meeting of the Russian and US leaders at a Cold War-era air force base in Alaska, their first face-to-face talks since Mr Trump returned to the White House, comes amid Ukrainian and European fears that Mr Trump might sell Kyiv out. Mr Trump, who once said he would end Russia's war in Ukraine within 24 hours, said yesterday that the three-and-a-half-year conflict had proven a tougher nut to crack than he had thought. He said if his talks with Mr Putin went well, setting up a subsequent three-way summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky - who was not invited to today's meeting - would be even more important than his encounter with Mr Putin. Mr Trump is pressing for a truce to bolster his credentials as a global peacemaker worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize, something he has made clear is important to him. Ukraine and its European allies were heartened by their conference call on Wednesday in which, they said, Mr Trump agreed Ukraine must be involved in any talks about ceding land. Mr Zelensky said Mr Trump had also supported the idea of security guarantees in a post-war settlement, although the US president has made no public mention of them. Wednesday's call eased their fears of a Trump-Putin deal that would leave Ukraine under pressure to make territorial and other concessions. Mr Putin, whose war economy is showing signs of strain, needs Mr Trump to help Russia break out of its straitjacket of ever-tightening Western sanctions, or at the very least not to hit Moscow with more sanctions, something Mr Trump has threatened. The day before the summit, the Kremlin leader held out the prospect of something else he knows Mr Trump wants - a new nuclear arms control agreement to replace the last surviving one, which is due to expire in February next year. Putin will do a deal, says Trump Mr Trump said on the eve of the summit that he thought Mr Putin would do a deal on Ukraine, but he has blown hot and cold on the chances of a breakthrough. Mr Putin, meanwhile, praised what he called "sincere efforts" by the US to end the war. A source close to the Kremlin told Reuters it looked as if the two sides had been able to find some unspecified common ground beforehand. "Apparently, some terms will be agreed upon tomorrow (Friday) because Trump cannot be refused, and we are not in a position to refuse (due to sanctions pressure)," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity. Mr Putin has set stringent conditions for a full ceasefire, but one compromise could be a phased truce in the air war, although both sides have accused the other of flouting a previous accord. Analysts say Mr Putin could try to look like he is giving Mr Trump what he wants while remaining free to escalate in Ukraine if he wants to. "If they (the Russians) are able to put a deal on the table that creates some kind of a ceasefire but that leaves Russia in control of those escalatory dynamics, does not create any kind of genuine deterrence on the ground or in the skies over Ukraine... that would be a wonderful outcome from Putin's perspective," said Sam Greene, director of Democratic Resilience at the Center for European Policy Analysis. Trump suggests land transfers Mr Zelensky has accused Mr Putin of bluffing and playing for time to avoid US secondary sanctions and has ruled out handing Moscow any territory. Mr Trump has said land transfers between Russia and Ukraine could be a possible way of breaking the logjam. Mr Putin, whose forces control nearly one fifth of Ukraine, wants Mr Trump to start reviving the two countries' shrunken economic, political and business ties and, ideally, not to make that process contingent on progress on Ukraine. But it is unclear whether Mr Putin is willing to compromise on Ukraine. In power for a quarter of a century, the Kremlin chief has staked his legacy on coming out of the war with something he can sell to his people as a victory. Chief among his war aims is complete Russian control over the Donbas industrial region in eastern Ukraine, which comprises the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Despite steady advances, around 25% of Donetsk remains beyond Russian control. Mr Putin also wants full control of Ukraine's Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions; NATO membership to be taken off the table for Kyiv; and limits on the size of Ukraine's armed forces.
Irish Times
37 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Very small number of investors own vast bulk of shares in Gareth Sheridan's US firm
The wealth of Dublin businessman Gareth Sheridan (35), who is seeking a nomination to run in the forthcoming presidential election , is centred on Florida-based Nutriband, the shares of which are traded on the Nasdaq stock exchange. At a press conference on Thursday, Sheridan said his shares in Nutriband had a value of approximately $16 million , though the value changed with the share price. Other than that, he had savings of approximately €500,000, he said. Company filings show his annual salary as CEO was $150,000, with additional stock options. The company is awaiting the decision of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on regulatory approval for the product it wants to develop, a new, transdermal patch for the safer delivery of the powerful opioid painkiller fentanyl. At the press conference Sheridan said: 'The company is going to be very impactful for thousands of lives a year when that FDA approval comes. I'm very proud of that.' READ MORE A less certain assessment of the situation was made in a market filing from Nutriband when it was issuing new shares in July to fund its ongoing operations. At the time, the loss-making company had an accumulated deficit of $39.8 million. Investors, Nutriband said, should be aware that the company was subject to significant risks. 'If we are not able to obtain FDA approval for our lead product, we may not have the resources to develop any other product, and we may not be able to continue in business,' it said. The company's shares have been trading on Nasdaq since October 2021. On July 2nd, 2025, it had 'approximately 117 holders of record of our common stock', according to the document. [ 'Don't underestimate this guy': Who is Gareth Sheridan, the pharma millionaire running for president? Opens in new window ] Of that small number of shareholders, a key few own the bulk of the company. According to the July document, Sheridan then held 17.65 per cent of the stock. The man who temporarily took over as CEO from Sheridan last week, chairman Serguei Melnik, had 9.39 per cent. Other key figures had smaller percentages, but director Sergei Glinka, who bought his shares last year, had 19.33 per cent. Together these figures, the document said, had 54.39 per cent. 'We have very loyal shareholders who have been with us for a very long time,' Sheridan told the press conference. The July document showed another shareholder, Vitalie Botgros, owned 39 per cent of the company. Botgros is a former chairman of Nutriband and a long-time investor. Cumulatively, therefore, more than 90 per cent of the shares are held by a very small number of investors. Data for the past year shows the daily closing share price has fallen to less than $4 and reached above $10. These price fluctuations directly affect the nominal wealth of each of the major shareholders. The volume of trade has also varied enormously, with a few thousand shares trading on some days, and more than three million on other days, including Friday of last week, when the share price closed at $7.7. [ Co-founder of Gareth Sheridan's US business involved in 2019 Moldova airline privatisation controversy Opens in new window ] Melnik, Glinka and Botgros are all from Moldova (Melnik now lives in the US). Both Glinka and Botgros previously worked (prior to the war in Ukraine) for a now-sanctioned Russian railway rolling stock conglomerate called Transmashholding, associated with a sanctioned Russian billionaire called Iskander Makhmudov. In 2018, there was major controversy in Moldova after the takeover of Air Moldova by a Romanian company in which Melnik was reported to be a 25 per cent shareholder, with a report from a parliamentary inquiry being severely critical of the deal. At his press conference, Sheridan said this had nothing to do with Nutriband or his bid to become President of the Irish Republic.
RTÉ News
38 minutes ago
- RTÉ News
Ghosts of Russian imperialism haunt Alaska summit
From the onion domes of the Orthodox churches to the local penchant for potato dumplings, resonances of Russia's imperial past are not hard to find in Alaska. This once was, after all, Russian territory. In 1867, Tsar Alexander II, in a bit of a financial bind having just lost the Crimean War, decided to raise money from its sale to prop up the home front. The far-flung icy outpost across the Bering Strait was difficult to defend and its primary industry at the time - the fur trade - was not that lucrative anyway. So, the Americans snapped it up for $7.2 million (€6.1 million). US critics dubbed the Alaska purchase 'Seward's folly,' after Secretary of State William Seward. But with the subsequent discovery of vast mineral resources - including oil and gold - Mr Seward looked a lot less foolish. For some in Russia, though, it became a source of regret - the kind of historical loss folksongs are written and half-jokes told about. But the Kremlin has never made any serious move to reclaim it. Nevertheless, a summit, evoking memories of Russia's former conquest at a time it occupies nearly 20% of modern-day Ukraine is, for Ukraine and its European allies, discomforting symbolism. This week, Mr Trump's press spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt said the summit would be a "listening exercise", invoking another historical spectre, this time of the Cold War. Alaska was home to the radar stations designed to warn the US of a Soviet attack. The military base where the presidents will meet, was also a crucial Cold War installation. Of course, the ex-KGB spy and former reality TV star have met many times before. The warm smiles, chuckles and handshakes on display during Mr Trump's first term showed a rapport between the two presidents, enough that some Washington wags dubbed it a "bromance". Contrast that with the public humiliation suffered by Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, at the hands of Mr Trump and his deputy JD Vance earlier this year. This summit is a "gift for Putin," said Katie Stallard, author of Dancing on Bones, a book on the authoritarian leaders in Russia, China and North Korea. "Sitting down with Trump in Alaska will enable him to show that Western efforts to isolate him and render him a global pariah over the past three years have failed," she said. "The US has been forced to treat him with respect and listen to his concerns as a fellow leader of a great power, rather than an indicted war criminal," she added. Mr Trump's comments earlier suggesting "a land swap," induced panic among European leaders that a carve-up was on the table - a table that neither they nor Ukraine were invited to join. Those worries seemed to subside after the collective Zoom call with the White House on Wednesday. But Mr Putin has not budged from his hard line demands - a guarantee Ukraine will not join NATO, international recognition of Russian-occupied territories of Eastern Ukraine and Ukraine's withdrawal from the Donbas, something Mr Zelensky has rejected outright. "Donbas for the Russians is a springboard for a future new offensive," he said. Also, the very idea of a "land swap" seems to have originated from a misunderstanding during a meeting with President Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow, according to analysts. "We don't know the details, but it appears Witkoff believed that Russia was willing to keep the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and give up the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions to the Ukrainians," said Kate Mallinson, partner at Prism, a London-based political risk consultancy. That was "fanciful," she said, because Russia would never withdraw from territory it occupies, and no Ukrainian leader could agree to such a "brazen trade in territory". "This means the entire basis for the talks - the land swap Trump spoke about on Monday - appears to be a non-starter," she added. But Mr Trump did say he would follow through on his threat to increase secondary sanctions on countries buying Russian oil - like India and China - if peace talks fail. On Wednesday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent doubled down, warning that Washington would raise its 25% tariff on India if the summit with Mr Putin did not go well. Mr Bessent also took a swipe at European leaders who he said were "in the wings carping". "The Europeans need to join us in these sanctions," he told Bloomberg news. He also hinted that sanctions on China - the largest importer of Russian crude - could also be raised. It was likely the threat of secondary sanctions that brought Mr Putin to the table, analysts told RTÉ News. After all, without oil sales to China, India and Iran, he would not have been able to keep his war machine going for this long. Which brings us to the question of what Mr Putin might offer his American counterpart at the summit to stave off that threat. The fact he is bringing his finance minister Anton Siluanov and key investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev suggests Mr Putin is more than ready to talk business. Here again, Alaska carries symbolism. This is the gateway to the Arctic - an increasingly important geostrategic area as thawing ice sheets open up navigable sea routes as well as access to mineral deposits. "The arctic is definitely at play," Marisol Maddox, Senior Arctic Fellow at Dartmouth College said. "The idea of a joint US-Russian Arctic energy project in the Russian arctic has been floated," she said. "Also, Russia wants sanctions relief and access to western expertise to pursue further arctic development projects," she added. Mr Trump's fascination with critical minerals is well known. He suggested annexing Greenland for theirs and persuaded Ukraine into a deal that would give US companies very favourable mining rights. Whatever carrot Mr Putin dangles, it may not be enough to dissuade Mr Trump from upping secondary sanctions. He promised to finish the Russia-Ukraine war within 24-hours of taking office and his frustration with Mr Putin has grown, as a deal has proven elusive. He is also under pressure from the "America-first" contingent of his cabinet who are anxious to see the US shift the responsibility for European security to the Europeans. "We're done with the funding of the Ukraine war business," Mr Vance told Fox News last weekend. "We want to bring about a peaceful settlement to this thing." He went on to say the Europeans should "step up" and buy weapons from American producers. "But we're not going to fund it ourselves anymore," he said. But here is where the Russian team's longer negotiating experience may outfox the US side. "The Trump White House has gutted a lot of the expertise in the administration, most notably in the National Security Council and the State Department," said Ms Mallinson. "By contrast, Putin knows these issues extremely well and is an experienced statesman," she added. Mr Trump seethed at the US press coverage this week, suggesting he could be outmanoeuvred by a more experienced and wilier Russian negotiating team. So, whatever happens this afternoon, he will want to bill this summit as a success. But as with the Alaska purchase, the real outcome may take time to emerge.
