Time for Fine Gael Áras candidate contest 'tight'

RTÉ News​

20 hours ago

A member of Fine Gael's National Executive has said that while she would like to see a contest for the party's presidential nomination if there was more than one candidate, the time to do so was now "tight".
Speaking on RTÉ's This Week, Fine Gael MEP Regina Doherty said the original timeline was to officially launch their campaign at the beginning of the second week of September, which was drawing near.
"Time is of the essence, lots of people are still on their holidays is what maybe makes it a little more difficult...we will deal with whatever is put in front of us tomorrow evening we will open the contest we will see how many contenders there are and then decisions will be made based on timelines thereafter," she said.
The party's national executive council is due to meet tomorrow evening to discuss next steps following the withdrawal of Mairead McGuinness earlier this week.
"The purpose of the meeting now is to assess where we are as a political party and to make decisions for the days and the weeks ahead in relation to the presidential election," Ms Doherty said.
She thanked Ms McGuinness for her service to the party as well as the country and wished her family well.
She said that tomorrow night, the national executive will reaffirm the decision made last April to run a candidate.
"And for us to set out the process by which that candidate can be nominated and voted upon by the electoral college." Ms Doherty said.
She added that timelines will also be decided by the national executive as they are conscious that "the clock is ticking".
"We've been planning for this election since April, I think we are one of the first political parties to start our process and obviously, what we thought was finish that process earlier on in the summer, but obviously we will make these decisions tomorrow night based on the current circumstances," she said.
She said people were expressing their views but said there was no evidence that camps had begun to form.
Ms Doherty stressed that most people were still in shock and had "huge respect and regard for Mairead and her family".
"I think most people will be happy to wait for the national executive to meet tomorrow night to see what process is put out in place and then I think you will probably see naturally people will decide to declare who they are supporting or who they think might be a great candidate for us and express their views and opinions both privately and publicly," Ms Doherty said.
Ms Doherty refused to speculate about who she wanted to support, adding she would rather attend the meeting tomorrow night and wait for the process to be set out.
"We don't have anybody official as of yet," she said.
She added that she did not have anyone specific in mind at the moment.
Asked about growing support for Heather Humphreys, she said people hold the former Cavan-Monaghan TD in high regard, but added that people like MEP Seán Kelly had a team of supporters championing him at the moment.
Ms Humphreys told the Sunday Independent that she is now giving it "very serious consideration".
"We are very lucky in the position in Fine Gael that we have more than a number of people who are both affable, amiable, well qualified, you know, politically experienced, so we are in a very, very lucky position, I suppose and we will set that ball rolling again now tomorrow evening.
"If there were more than one candidate, she said it was healthy for a party to have a contest and members to decide who they wanted to represent them as a political party.
"I'm one of those pragmatic people that likes to see people allowing them to have their say and have their day to make their decisions as opposed to having things pre-orchestrated beforehand," Ms Doherty said.
However, Ms Doherty appreciated that a contest could put them under time pressure.
"Time is of the essence, lots of people are still on their holidays is what maybe makes it a little more difficult...we will deal with whatever is put in front of us tomorrow evening we will open the contest we will see how many contenders there are and then decisions will be made based on timelines thereafter," she said.
Ms Doherty emphasised that the party would be contesting the presidential election.