76% WANT PRESIDENT MICHAEL D TO STAY ON

EXCLUSIVE Mail poll shows Higgins a shoo-in if he decides to run for a second term in the Áras

MORE than three quarters of Irish voters want Michael D Higgins to serve a second term as President, the Irish Daily Mail reveals today.

A new survey for the paper shows that 76% of those polled would like Mr Higgins to stay on in the Áras – meaning he would be a shoo-in should he run.

He came to office pledging to serve one term only but is believed to have changed his mind, and – now at the age of 76 – is considering running for another seven-year stint, which would mean serving until he is 84.

There have been murmurings that potential candidates from the main parties, and outsiders, are eager to contest the next race but, based on these poll findings, there would be little point in anyone else standing.

Indeed, while Fine Gael never

wanted to run a candidate anyway, the early show of support will make Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin, who are weighing up their options, stop and think.

Independent senator Gerard Craughwell last month vowed that he would run for the Áras if no-one else was prepared to take on President Higgins.

However, there was resounding indifference to this announcement, given the senator’s lack of political stature.

And today’s overwhelming poll findings mean that Michael D could ultimately return to the Áras without a fight, as Mr Craughwell would require the backing of some members of the main parties to run.

A Fine Gael candidate has never won the presidency, and should President Higgins announce that he wants a second term, a great weight would be lifted from Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s shoulders, as he does not want the electoral distraction next year.

The President was coy on the matter last week at the National Ploughing Championships where he said he had not yet made up his mind but would make his position known at the same event a year from now. That would mean a declaration just two months before the vacancy arises, leaving uncertainty that could scupper the chances of any rival to properly organise a campaign.

In the Ireland Thinks poll for this newspaper, those surveyed asked: ‘Would you like Michael D Higgins to be President for a second term after his current seven-year term expires next year?’ A massive 76% answered, ‘Yes’, while less than a quarter (24%) said ‘No’ in the survey.

The company interviewed a random sample of 1,105 adults aged over 18 by phone, over the course of a week earlier this month.

The results confirm anecdotal evidence that indicate President Higgins is extremely popular.

Despite being one of the most political of presidents, in his coded contributions to public discourse, it seems President Higgins has alienated very few elements of the political spectrum.

Fine Gael, in particular, appears anxious for the former Labour Party minister to continue in office. Mr Varadkar previously said, at a recent Fine Gael thinkin: ‘On President Higgins, I think he’s done a phenomenal job as President, it would be up to him to decide if he wants to run again.

‘As President, he can nominate himself for re-election if he chooses to do so, and we as a party will decide on our position after he has made an announcement, but certainly I think he’s done a really phenomenal job and the country is very proud of him and the role he has played as President.’

Mr Higgins initially built his reputation as a dignified and diligent head of state when he made the first state visit by an Irish President to the UK, being honoured by the queen with a white-tie banquet at Windsor Castle. He now has the opportunity to bolster that status next year when Pope Francis is expected to come here for the World Meeting of Families in August – ideal timing for the autumn expiry of his first term.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has also praised the performance of the President in office. Mr Martin was strongly criticised during the last Presidential election campaign when Fianna Fáil, for the first time, did not run a candidate.

Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin has already said that President Higgins has done ‘a very good job’. He added that Sinn Féin had not yet met to discuss the Presidency. The party made its first attempt at the office last time out when the late Martin McGuinness performed creditably in what was ultimately a seven-candidate field. There is speculation that Mr Adams would not want to run next year, but could be interested in the Presidential election after that. The Labour Party can be expected to firmly support moves for its former minister to stand again next year, but the Independent Alliance has not ruled out backing another candidate in November next year, and there could be non-party candidates,

As it stands, Senator Craughwell is the only politician to express an interest in running for the Áras.

The former president of the Teachers Union of Ireland said last month that Mr Higgins should not be allowed a second term in the Áras without a contest.

The senator, who won his seat in the Upper House through Sinn Féin support in a by-election marked by Fine Gael bungling, admitted President Higgins had done ‘a tremendous job’ but added: ‘The issue is that it is the people of this country who decide who fulfils political offices.’

The Galway man also admitted he could struggle to find the 20 Oireachtas names needed to be validly nominated to force a contest. But he noted that President Higgins had pledged in 2011 to be a one-term President.

‘If that decision has changed, then the electorate has the right to have its say,’ he said.

The 64-year-old former Irish Army sergeant added: ‘No political office should be gifted.’

Comment – Page 12 senan.molony@dailymail.ie

‘He’s done a really phenomenal job’ ‘It is the people who decide’