So why won’t Sean Gallagher face the media (or the public)?
Sean Gallagher confirms fresh Áras bid but wants no questions asked until he nails down nomination
SEAN Gallagher finally confirmed that he will enter the Presidential race yesterday – but he did it by video and made no public appearance.
The entrepreneur confirmed shortly before 10am that he was seeking the backing of four local authorities to get the nomination.
However, while he is keen to put his name before the public for election to the highest office in the land, he was not available to answer questions about his views, his campaign or his aspirations for the Office of President.
Instead, he released a video and carefully crafted statement saying his ‘focus now is to meet and speak with councillors to seek their support and listen to their views about the type of leadership they wish to see from the Presidency over the next seven years’.
A source close to Mr Gallagher said he will be ‘fully engaging directly’ with the media once he has secured the backing of four councils to get on the ballot.
A Fianna Fáil councillor in Offaly said last night that eight representatives there would support him. It is likely he will have Offaly secured by the end of next week as more of the council’s 19 members are expected to follow suit. It is understood he spent yesterday meeting with councillors in Wexford, Wicklow, Dublin and Offaly.
His absence from radio and television yesterday was described as unusual by Dr Eoin O’Malley, a professor in DCU’s Law and Government School. He said he can’t think of ‘any prominent Irish political campaign where they haven’t put themselves in front of the media’, adding: ‘Now I am assuming he will at some stage, but he might argue he is not looking for votes from the people yet. He’s looking to talk to the councils because he hasn’t been nominated, so that might be his reason.’
But he said: ‘Normally, when you do a campaign launch, you bring the media into a room, you make your announcement and then you are subject to questions.’
A source close to Mr Gallagher insists he is not dodging potentially awkward questions and that his ‘exclusive focus for the next number of days’ is on rallying support from councillors. Asked about the campaign and its team, the source said: ‘The campaign team is only relevant when there is a campaign. At the moment we have a nomination phase.’ It could be next weekend before Mr Gallagher makes himself available to answer media questions.
A source told the Mail his approach will be a ‘blend of engagements with the public; meetings, canvassing, social media, traditional print and broadcast media. Every single thing’.
Mr O’Malley said: ‘To be honest, I am not sure what the purpose or the point of his candidacy is, because the pretty vacuous statement he made – he didn’t have anything in it.’
He said people have been pointing out that Mr Gallagher ‘hasn’t done anything in the last seven years… that has been noteworthy or has [had] any impact on the public and public debate’.
‘So I presume, if he can get the nomination, he’ll probably try to run a very controlled campaign but even in the most controlled electoral campaigns… a politician eventually has to come face to face with a journalist and be asked questions, including questions they don’t want to answer.’
Dr O’Malley said it ‘does seem unusual not to subject yourself to the media’, but that it is not surprising, given the fallout from the ‘Tweetgate’ incident in an RTÉ Frontline debate during the last 2011 Presidential campaign in which Mr Gallagher came second.
RTÉ apologised to him last year over the tweet read out, which was purported to be from an official account linked to fellow candidate, the late Martin McGuinness. It later emerged to be bogus.
Mr Gallagher sued RTÉ and the case was reportedly settled for a six-figure sum.
The Presidential election is on Friday, October 26. Others hoping to get on the ballot include Gavin Duffy; Senator Joan Freeman, journalist Gemma O’Doherty and artist Kevin Sharkey. Sinn Féin has yet to announce a candidate.
Eight backing him in Offaly already
SEAN Gallagher yesterday signalled his intention to once again run as a candidate for the presidency. He placed himself before the people last time and almost secured a surprise win but he chose not to put himself before the people yesterday.
Instead, he simply released a statement outlining his intention of securing the backing of local councils necessary for a candidacy, and his team has indicated that he may not subject himself to media interviews until after he has received those council votes.
This hardly is the behaviour of a credible candidate. People are entitled to know who and what they might have to vote for. The longer Mr Gallagher postpones indepth interviews with newspapers and broadcast media, the more likely his potential voters are to ask a simple question – what has he got to hide?