Labour Party presidential candidate Michael D Higgins today said he believed that Dana Rosemary Scallon should have informed the public that she had obtained US citizenship before running for presidency in both 1997 and in this year's contest.
Mr Higgins said it was important that Ms Scallon's successful application for US citizenship prior to 1997 was now in the public realm. While he could not say whether it would disqualify her from running for the presidency, he said people should at least be aware of it.
"I've read about it in your paper (The Irish Times) today for the first time - obviously it's something that people will be asking questions about. Yes, of course, this is a matter that should be in the public realm but I know nothing about the detail of it," he said. "And also I have to say, and it's important for me to say this ... it's based on a family dispute and therefore it must be deeply distressing for the members of her (Ms Scallon's) family."
Speaking in Cork at the launch of the Munster part of his campaign, Mr Higgins said there were clear differences between his views and those of Ms Scallon and they had discussed those differences in recent television debates. However, he said he respected other people's opinions.
Asked if he believed Ms Scallon's US citizenship disqualified her from contesting the Irish presidency, he said while he was not a constitutional lawyer, he would imagine "there is a disqualification in law".
He said there would "seem to be on the face of it a contradiction" between swearing an oath to serve the Irish people if elected and an affirmation to any other political entity or state as is required when people swear an allegiance to the US.
Mr Higgins said that he could recall from his time studying and teaching in the US how seriously American citizens regard pledging an oath of allegiance to their country and how ceremonial an occasion it is to make such a pledge
"I lived in the United States in the 1960s and I still remember the ceremonies that were attached to becoming an American citizen - American citizens take it quite seriously and it's quite ceremonial - you don't do it casually," he said.
Asked if he was surprised that Ms Scallon cannot remember taking any such oath, Mr Higgins said he could not comment on the state of anyone else's recollection.
Mr Higgins played down the impact of the surge of support for Sinn Féin as a political party on his presidential chances after the latest Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll showed support for Sinn Féin rising from 10 per cent in July to 18 per cent and to edge ahead of Labour on 17 per cent.
"I think what it (the rise in support for Sinn Féin) tells you is that it was tactically a good decision on their part to contest the presidency - what you are really seeing is that they've moved into a vacuum that had been created and they're getting the advantage of it."
Mr Higgins said he had not analysed the poll results any further than that but he wasn't duly concerned by the fact that support for Labour had dropped by 1 per cent from 18 per cent in July to 17 per cent as such changes frequently occurred throughout his time as a TD and Senator.
Speaking to about 70 party activists in Cork, Mr Higgins said that his campaign was now entering its final phase and it was a time for the party organisation to rally around and seek to maximise the vote by members urging everyone they know to vote for him.
