I couldn’t talk to the media because of back-to-school
Sean Gallagher says he didn’t take any questions when he launched his Áras campaign because he needed to focus on his son’s return to class (although that was two days later, and his camp gave a different answer previously...)
SEAN Gallagher yesterday said that he had refused to answer media questions about his latest Áras bid because he was focused on his son’s return to school. On Wednesday, the entrepreneur and former Dragons’ Den star was absent and unavailable to answer questions from the press following his video announcement that he would be seeking a nomination to enter the Presidential race for a second time.
An Irish Daily Mail/Ireland Thinks poll published that morning had shown Mr Gallagher’s support at just 11%, compared to 65% for current President, Michael D Higgins. However, Mr Gallagher was not available to answer questions about these devastating poll findings, or about issues arising out of his failed 2011 election bid.
Once it became clear that Mr Gallagher would not be launching his campaign in person, the Mail asked his camp why he was not making a public appearance or answering questions. Sources close to Mr Gallagher replied that his ‘exclusive’ focus for the days ahead was on meeting councillors and that he would wait until he had secured a nomination before taking questions from the media. The issue of the start of the school year was not mentioned by them at this time.
The source suggested that Mr Gallagher would only be ‘fully engaging directly’ with the media once he had secured this nomination.
The other former Dragons seeking a nomination, however, were happy to talk to the media even before a nomination had been secured. Mr Gallagher’s silence was described as ‘unusual’ by Dr Eoin O’Malley, a professor in DCU’s Law and Government School.
He said he could not think of ‘any prominent Irish political campaign where they haven’t put themselves in front of the media’.
Yesterday morning, further focus was placed on his failure to talk to the media in the form of comments from RTÉ’s political correspondent Martina Fitzgerald.
Shortly after her comments, Mr Gallagher’s camp issued a statement saying that the actual reason for the candidate’s reticence was his son’s return to school.
The statement said: ‘In our home this week, the Presidential election was the second-most important event taking place.
‘Bobby, five, was preparing for his first day back at school (St Laurence’s National School Greystones) and I made a promise to myself and my family that his first day back at school would be the most important thing all of us as a family did this week.
‘Opportunities to speak with the media about the election will come again next week once I formally start to speak at scheduled council meetings, but an opportunity to make sure that Bobby had his special day uninterrupted by anything else will only come around once.’
The statement did not give details of when Bobby’s special day was – although most schools in the country had reopened on Thursday.
The Irish Daily Mail then confirmed that his school restarted on Friday – a full 48 hours after Mr Gallagher launched his Áras bid. The statement is likely to baffle the tens of thousands of working parents who brought their children back to school without needing to put other commitments on hold.
While Mr Gallagher felt unable to
‘He’s not dodging awkward questions’
spend any of this time talking to the media in order to prepare for Bobby’s return to school, however, it is understood that the former TV Dragon spent Wednesday meeting and talking with councillors in Wexford, Wicklow, Dublin and Offaly. This is believed to have continued during Thursday, but he also participated in an event with the charity Aware that afternoon.
Yesterday afternoon, a national photographic agency released pictures, taken by a photographer who happened to be at the school gates, of the Gallaghers dropping Bobby back to his school.
The Irish Daily Mail ensured that the Gallagher family were happy to have the pictures published before reproducing them.
Mr Gallagher is set to appear in public on Monday as it is understood he is aiming to speak before at least two councils and set out his stall.
It is anticipated that it will be the latter half of next week before any nomination is secured.
Local Government Minister Eoghan Murphy signed the election order on Tuesday for the Presidential ballot to be held on October 26.
Among others in the running for the Áras are fellow former Dragons, Gavin Duffy and Peter Casey as well as Pieta House founder Senator Joan Freeman and artist Kevin Sharkey. Brenda Power – Page 17 emmajane.hade@dailymail.ie