INDEPENDENT PRESIDENTIAL candidate Mary Davis looks set to have her name on the ballot paper in next October’s election after two more local authorities indicated support for her nomination.
Ms Davis, president and managing director of Special Olympics Europe-Eurasia, yesterday received the backing of county councils in Limerick and Mayo.
She has already received pledges of support from Louth and Monaghan county councils, giving her the backing of four local authorities required for a nomination.
While Limerick County Council is not expected to formally vote until next week, councillors from all political parties yesterday gave a commitment to support Ms Davis’s nomination once the writ for the election is moved in September.
Ms Davis also received the support of her native Mayo local authority yesterday, when all 17 Fine Gael councillors abstained and she was proposed and seconded by Independents.
Ms Davis said yesterday that the Government should look at reforming the nomination process for the presidency so that Independent candidates could begin their campaigns on an equal footing with party political candidates.
While she was happy to travel the local authority route in seeking a nomination, it did put Independent candidates like herself, Senator David Norris and Seán Gallagher at a disadvantage.
Local authorities, said Ms Davis, could not formally nominate a candidate until the returning officer for next October’s election was appointed in September.
Thus Independent candidates were left with just three weeks or so to officially campaign for the presidency, she said.
“We have had two political parties, Labour and Fine Gael, who have announced their candidates, and they can immediately go into election mode and do all the planning, whereas we, as Independents, will not formally know until September if we have been nominated.”
Ms Davis said it was possible that the dynamics of an election could change in that time, given that councillors committed to supporting an Independent candidate might, through no fault of their own, miss the meeting to formally nominate a candidate.
Mr Norris, who has the backing of Fingal County Council, also addressed North Tipperary County Council yesterday.
Mr Gallagher failed to show up at a meeting of Waterford County Council yesterday and the council voted not to invite him back as it was the second time he had cancelled.
In a statement last night, Mr Gallagher, who has the backing of five local authorities, said he was disappointed that Fine Gael councillors on Cavan County Council had opposed a motion of support for his presidential candidacy yesterday.
“In other councils, Fine Gael councillors have either abstained or voted for motions to support me,” he said.
Mr Gallagher claimed that while individual Fine Gael councillors were keen to support him, they had been stymied by party headquarters.
“I am really disappointed that Fine Gael is taking this approach,” he said.
“This is the first time they have voted against an Independent candidate.”
A Fine Gael spokesman said councillors had only been asked to support the party’s candidate MEP Gay Mitchell.
“We are not setting out to prevent people getting a nomination,” the spokesman added.
“We are trying to ensure that the party is fully behind our own candidate.”
