Public backs Bertie as the best Fianna Fáil pick for president
Almost a quarter, or 24%, of voters believe he would be the ideal candidate to represent the party – 5% ahead of Fianna Fáil leader Micheal Martin – a new poll reveals.
As yet, FF has yet to declare a candidate and is expected to announce in the coming weeks whether or not it will nominate a contestant or give its backing to a non-member of the party.
Nominating Bertie Ahern could pose difficulties for the party. The former FF TD for Dublin Central stepped down as taoiseach in 2008 after the Planning Tribunal implicated him for receipt of controversial payments. Bertie Ahern. Pic: Gareth Chaney/Collins
In 2012, in the midst of the economic crash, he resigned from the party after a motion was proposed to expel him. He re-joined Fianna Fáil in February 2023.
His predecessor Charles Haughey infamously described him as 'the most cunning, ruthless and devious of them all'.
His resignation left opponents of the party critical of his hard-won reputation as top-notch negotiator, which included his role in negotiating the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which brought the Troubles in the North to an end after almost 30 years.
In recent years, he has been acclaimed for his part in The Bourgainville Agreement in Papua New Guinea, which brought almost 40 years of civil war to an end. The agreement was described as 'one of the most successful peace agreements the world has ever seen'. Bertie Ahern. Pic: Liam McBurney/PA Wire.
Support for former FF minister Mary Hanafin is on 18%, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn is at 17%, former soccer international Niall Quinn is on 11%, Professor Deirdre Heenan is on 7%, while one-time FF TD for Limerick East and now executive director of UNICEF Ireland, Peter Power, is on 4%, the Ireland Thinks/Sunday Independent poll showed.
Possible Sinn Féin candidate Mary Lou McDonald has 38% support, followed by Michelle O'Neill on 26%, Gerry Adams on 20% with John Finucane MP on 15%, the poll of 1,319 people found.
Fine Gael candidate Mairéad McGuinness is way out in front of the pack on 39%, followed by Independent TD Catherine Connolly on 29%. Both women are formally declared candidates.
If Ms O'Neill's name was on the ballot paper, she would receive 12% while Ms Hanafin would get 10% if the election took place this week.
Businessman Declan Ganley is on 4% with 2018 candidate Peter Casey and Lord Of The Dance entertainer Michael Flatley on 3%.
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