Councils have questions to answer over candidates they nominated for President

ITwas described as a farce at the time and now the chickens are coming home to roost as they say. It’s just too easy to get nominated to run for the Presidency of this country. All you have to do is stand before councillors for about half an hour or 20 minutes, face no real hard questions about your views on anything of substance and councillors give you the nod.

You won’t even be asked about the Constitutional functions and role of President and it is clear from the campaign so far that five of the six candidates are clearly confused as to what they can do or even more importantly say as President of this country.

And so, after a proposer and seconder, anyone basically can get a nod from a council. That’s why we now have three men whose claim to fame is that they appeared on a light entertainment TV show on Sunday nights on RTE.

Another pretender to the throne is someone who literally hasn’t been heard of for the past seven years and has no obvious credentials other than he feels he wants to do the job and is feeling sore because he didn’t get the backing the last time out.

One female candidate in the field has worked with a charity, resigning from Pieta House in 2014 to concentrate on another US based charity and who voted ‘no’ in the recent abortion referendum and whose niece is a prominent member of the Iona Institute, the Catholic pressure group.

So there we have it, thanks to our county councillors we have a list of wannabees who have managed to get their names on to the ballot box without any serious scrutiny.

Their views and opinions are basically unknown until a campaign gets underway and that’s why we have ended up with someone like Peter Casey spouting populist and dangerous statements that have really nothing whatsoever to do with being President.

He has deliberately attacked minority groups such as Travellers and those on social welfare. It’s deliberate negative campaigning designed to appeal to a population hurting from years of auster- ity.

A clever move by a wealthy businessman to deflect from what are the real causes of inequality and justice in this country.

His message is simplistic and I wonder why councillors saw fit to nominate someone like this. It’s just not good enough for councillors to sit and listen like sheep to half hour presentations and then turn around and say yes, this is enough for me to endorse this person for the Presidency.

If councils are to continue having a role in nominating people for the Presidency then it’s surely time they stepped up to the plate and actually carried out better scrutiny.

Why wasn’t each candidate seeking a nomination interviewed like anyone going for a job? Why wasn’t their CV handed in and be questioned over a couple of hours to get a real sense of the person?

That’s the kind of questions I’d like to ask councillors, including those in Sligo who proposed the likes of Peter Casey who failed to get elected to the Seanad in 2016.

It’s just far too easy for someone to get on the ballot paper for what is an important figure head role.

Casey’s remarks about the Travelling community were so wrong. To attack an ethnic minority like he did without justification is a leaf taken out of the Donald Trump school of campaigning and politics.

And, to make matters worse, Casey, who has spent many years in the US, has followed it up with an uncalled for attack on those unfortunate enough to have to depend on social welfare for a living.

“Ireland is slowly becoming a welfare-dependent state, with a sense of entitlement that’s become unaffordable,” he stated. “Where is the incentive to work in this country? We have become a nation of people who expect, no demand, that the State looks after them. [It] Pays all their bills, provides them with homes, provides all sorts of social benefits,” he added.

And, not wanting to give any credibility to his rantings which are designed to stir up a dangerous sentiment which is spreading globally, but what exactly does he expect to do if elected as President to give life to his views?