TIME FOR A CHANGE IN RACE TO THE ARAS
MICHEAL MARTIN ON NOMINATION ‘HURDLES’ FOR PRESIDENCY
MICHEAL Martin has proposed a radical overhaul of the presidential nominations process to make it easier to run for office.
He revealed he wants to see the numbers required for backing to be halved to facilitate more open contests.
It comes as several independent candidates scramble to secure support to facilitate them running in the Presidential race in October.
Currently, a prospective candidate must secure the signatures of 20 Oireachtas members, TDS or senators or the backing of four local authorities to get their bid off the ground.
Those still chasing nomination and looking to address councils in the coming weeks include independent senators Joan Freeman and Padraig O Ceidigh, artist Kevin Sharkey and businessman Gavin Duffy.
REGRETS
Fianna Fail leader Mr Martin was speaking exclusively to the Irish Sunday Mirror in a summer interview while the Dail is in recess.
In a wide-ranging chat, he also claimed Sinn Fein is using the presidential campaign for propaganda purposes and that he has no regrets about Fianna Fail not running.
Mr Martin is critical of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on Brexit, insisting he was wasting his time “off hopping around Europe” talking about the EU split last month.
He believes the premier should be focusing on discussions in Brussels, where he feels the real power brokers are based.
And Mr Martin said Fianna Fail is set to redouble its efforts to claw back lost gains in the EU when the European Parliament elections roll around next Summer.
The party currently has no seats in Brussels.
But with the race to challenge current President Michael D Higgins heating up and candidates dropping in and out, it is timely for him to call for changes to the nomination process.
He said: “My own view is you could reduce the number of councils required for a nomination – there are a number of mechanisms you could use – but I think you could reduce the bar for the hurdles people have to jump in order to get nominated, either in terms of the Oireachtas numbers needed to support your candidature or the number of councils.
“I’m not a believer in restricting access to democracy or in elections to an excessive degree.
“There shouldn’t be barriers for presidential nominations – you could halve it, 10 TDS or senators, halve the number of councils to two.”
BOOST
He said Sinn Fein have no real interest in winning the presidency race and are using the opportunity just to boost their profile – even though he doesn’t think this will work.
Mr Martin added: “Presidential elections are not about raising the profile of the political party, it’s not about getting profile for the leader of a political party – that’s not what it’s for.
“They’d be wrong to use it for that. No political party owns the presidency anymore and no political party has an entitlement to the presidency.”
He added he thinks Mr Varadkar and his government “don’t really know what they’re doing” during Brexit negotiations.
He said: “The Taoiseach is off visiting Croatia and Italy, it looks good, photo opportunities, but the bottom line is it’s the European Commission, the Council and Britain.
“It’s the Leo roadshow at the moment, but in terms of where a lot of the action is, it’s in Brussels and Westminster.”
And he claimed Mr Varadkar is displaying a “cavalier attitude”.
Mr Martin went on: “He’s a Taoiseach, he needs to strategically
We must cut the number of signatures needed to run
He does not know what he is doing, it’s all the Leo show
I think like lots of people they are just hoping it’ll all be OK
focus on relationships that will ultimately matter to Ireland over the next 20 years, and whether we like it or not the relationship with Britain is going to be crucial.
“On the contingency plans, I don’t see any great ones there.
“They announced an extra 1,000 border staff, but we’re not going to see them until 2021.
“Meanwhile the Dutch have been planning for this for a year-and-a-half. So, to be frank, I don’t know what they’ve been doing.
HOPING
“There’s been some work from Enterprise Ireland but, I don’t know, I think like many people they’re just hoping everything will be all right.”
Fianna Fail is currently the only major Irish political party that does not have an MEP sitting in Brussels.
Ireland South’s Brian Crowley was elected as a Fianna Fail MEP in 2014. However, he no longer represents the party after he joined the European Conservatives And Reformists group in Brussels against leadership directions, and so lost the whip.
Mr Martin is keen to have his party represented again. He added: “We will redress that next time out. We were unlucky last time, to be frank. We put huge effort into the local elections, we became the largest party in local government, but I think that perhaps affected our European performance.” news@ irishmirror.ie
Whether we like it or not, relations with Britain are going to be crucial
FIANNA FAIL’S MICHEAL MARTIN
YESTERDAY