Higgins ‘to announce candidacy this week’
Waiting is over for President to give formal notice
AFTER a year of speculation, President Michael D Higgins is expected to formally announce this week that he will stand for another term in Áras an Uachtaráin – days before Sinn Féin will formally decide to oppose him next Saturday.
There are signs that the Head of State will formally reveal his intentions imminently.
The Dáil is due to rise for the summer on Thursday and it is understood that Mr Higgins wants to forestall critics who could take him to task for making his announcement while the House was on summer recess.
Advisers to Mr Higgins are considering whether to address, in his formal statement, his repeated pledge during the 2011 campaign that he would serve only one term.
Meanwhile, the Sinn Féin Ard Comhairle will meet on Saturday to likely confirm that it will field a candidate against the President, regardless of what other parties choose to do. Strategists are said to be looking closely at a possible choice of Dublin MEP Lynn Boylan as candidate in the October poll, while Ireland South MEP Liadh Ní Riada is also said to be under consideration.
The Irish Daily Mail revealed last year that Sinn Féin was grooming Ms Boylan for a possible presidential run. Party leader Mary Lou McDonald all but made it clear last week at Leinster House that Sinn Féin would be running a candidate and that the name put forward was highly likely to be that of a woman.
The selection of a female candidate would serve as a contrast to the incumbent, and would capitalise on the #MeToo movement and the issues raised during the referendum on the Eighth Amendment.
Yesterday, Sinn Féin TD David Cullinane said he personally favoured a contest and for his party to take part. Even if his party chose not to enter the fray, he believed there should still be a race for the Áras, as it would be ‘good for politics… and even for the sitting President himself ’.
Three independent senators have also expressed an interest in a run: Gerard Craughwell, Joan Freeman and Pádraig Ó Céidigh. Donegal artist Kevin Sharkey says he also intends to be on the ballot.
Fianna Fáil has made it clear it will not take part in a presidential election this year and will back Mr Higgins to continue.
While Fine Gael has not officially declared its hand, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar last night appeared to indicate his preference for a continuation of Mr Higgins’s presidency when he retweeted a tweet from Health Minister Simon Harris praising the President. senan.molony@dailymail.ie
Sinn Féin likely to enter fray