We snicker at Trump in US... but three Dragons were in running for Irish presidency
TOP JOB
WE’RE in unprecedented times – with Murphy’s Law being the only sure thing.
But I’d wager our next president come 2025 will either be an oddball or a former IRA terrorist – or both.
We Irish enjoy snickering at how the Yanks elected Donald Trump, the business tycoon best known for fronting The Apprentice before chancing his arm at politics.
Yet we conveniently forget three – count ‘em – Dragons’ Den stars ran for the Aras last time the trapdoors opened in 2018.
It’s starting to resemble a personality contest.
I appreciate the role includes some legislature duties, but its primary function is to be the public face of our supposed great little nation on the global stage.
But – in the same way ‘video killed the radio star’ – there is no need for a ceremonial figurehead in this global village era in which Google is king.
No Irish president has done more than the likes of Bono, Saoirse Ronan and Katie Taylor to enhance our reputation abroad.
Obama even used a U2 song when walking out on stage to give his farewell speech as US President. You can’t put a price on such wonderful PR.
The list of famous names that do our country proud on a daily basis is, astonishingly enough, almost endless for such a small island.
The job has been made redundant in almost the same way as an old defaced phone booth with an eircom telephone directory dangling on a chain to stop it being stolen.
Forget a measly phonebook – Irish taxpayers are fleeced to the tune of
€30million in costs of running the Aras for every seven-year term, according to one estimate. I always found President Michael D Higgins to be very personable.
However, it still sticks in my craw how he broke a 2011 election promise not to run for a second term.
It had been his roundabout way of acknowledging he’d be well past retirement age in 2018.
At this stage, President Higgins will be in his mid-80s when stepping down.
Would the public have voted for him so enthusiastically the first time if he spoke about wanting the gig for 14 years – as a 70-year-old?
I don’t buy into all this guff about his sail catching a second wind thanks to being taken aback by the huge wave of popularity during the first term.
I for one feel cheated by this. Most of those with one eye on the Aras see it as a glorified retirement home.
We could replace the symbolic role with a diaspora minister and replicate the French electoral system with an actual democratically elected president with a proper mandate.
It would make more sense to give Irish voters a clear black and white choice of who they would like to see running the country. I doubt Micheal Martin or Leo Varadkar would be elected Taoiseach if Joe Public had a proper say in it all.
As things stands, it’s too easy for Fianna Fail and Fine Gael to play piggy in the middle with their political football strategy of freezing out Sinn Fein and the left.
I reckon both coalition parties will start whinging about the presidency being a waste of space when Sinn Fein finally win it – which will be sooner rather than later, too.
We must also remember the (red,
FULL OF CHAT Candidates for Irish presidency
white and blue) elephant in the corner.
It might make it easier for unionists to agree to unification if they weren’t switching allegiance from one state figurehead to another.
You could write an entire book outlining many reasons why the role should be abolished.
This fact alone speaks volumes about its peripheral nature in a modern Irish society. As a twist on a certain famous proclamation, I think we should be saying: “The presidency is dead, long live democracy.”
There is no need for a ceremonial figurehead in global village
We could replace the symbolic role with diaspora minister