Gareth Sheridan says Sean Gallagher's circle launched 'coordinated attack'
The 35-year-old multimillionaire from Dublin officially launched his campaign in The Shelbourne's Constitutional Room today.
Mr Gallagher - who himself was a presidential candidate in 2011 - was the chairman of Mr Sheridan's pain relief company Nutriband from 2017 until 2022.
The 6'7 tall hopeful extraordinarily opened his campaign with a scathing attack against what he described as some people in his former colleague's circle.
He said: 'There seems to be somewhat of a coordinated attack taking place on my character by people associated and in Sean Gallagher's circle.
'I'm not saying that Sean is behind this or involved in any way. Some of you in the room know what I am talking about, that's all I will say on that.
'I wish Sean nothing but the best on whatever he is working on now, I would just like to be upfront and make sure you are aware of the situation we are facing."
Mr Sheridan said his team have been receiving 'copy and pasted question lists' from various media outlets so 'something seems a little off'.
He added: 'We have it on good authority that people in that circle have been involved in some way and there are people in this room aware of that themselves."
However, when asked what he believes the motive is behind the alleged muddying of his campaign, he said: 'That's not an answer I have'.
During his launch, Mr Sheridan confirmed that he has $16m in shares of his company, and €500k in cash. He will be paying for his presidential campaign himself, which is not a small cost. In the 2011 election, the seven candidates spent over €2.3m.
The highest spending candidate was Fine Gael's Gay Mitchell whose campaign cost €527,000.
Asked what his budget is for his potential run, Mr Sheridan said: 'The budget that is to be seen, you talked about €500k, on a personal level that is what I have available to me.
'(My wife) Heidi and I discussed in depth that we are willing to fund this campaign from our savings because we take it very seriously."
The tall Dubliner has not yet gotten his name on the ballot. He will have to be nominated by four county councils. This is not an easy feat as the most powerful parties - Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil - will be backing their own candidates.
However, Fianna Fáil have not yet announced a candidate, while Mairead McGuinness shockingly pulled out of the race on health grounds.
Mr Sheridan claimed he has support in Tipperary and Laois county councils. However, a hearing will still have to take place in each for him to be nominated.
While the presidential hopeful said he's 'not a one trick pony' he believes solving Ireland's housing crisis would would rank highly among the issues the country is facing.
He is drawing attention to 45.2.1 of the Constitution. It says that Government social policy should be directed so that citizens "find the means of making reasonable provision for their domestic needs."
Mr Sheridan said this means that anyone holding a job should have a decent standard of living and a roof over their heads, and 'no one' has picked up on this.
He added: 'The president upholds the constitution and we have a very good constitutional argument that no one else seems to have picked up on, even the constitutional experts haven't picked up on but it takes the tycoon pharma CEO to do it.'
Despite speaking about few other issues than housing, Mr Sheridan accepted that he can't solve the housing crisis as president.
However, he said he would go into Dáil Éireann and address the parliament about the issue if he was elected as president.
During his speech, the 35-year-old said he wanted to 'Make Ireland Home Again'. Despite his Trump-like slogan, apparent one issue race and being a non-politician, the hopeful denied several times that he is a populist.
He said he is 'a protagonist for the people' and the persona of him as a 'multi millionaire tycoon egomanic' is not fitting of the person he is. Sean Gallagher has been contacted for comment.
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