SINN FÉIN presidential candidate Martin McGuinness has said the Garda would have his “100 per cent” support if he is elected.
The former Provisional IRA leader also said as president he would be willing to meet Queen Elizabeth.
Speaking at a press conference in Dublin yesterday to launch his presidential campaign, Mr McGuinness said he was focused on the future, and pointed to his political record in recent years. “If I can work with Ian Paisley and Peter Robinson I can work with anyone,” said Mr McGuinness, who added he was very proud of the relationship he had established with both in the North’s power-sharing executive.
Mr McGuinness will step down as Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister for the duration of the campaign. He is expected to be replaced in the post for the campaign by the party’s Minister for Education John O’Dowd.
Formally nominated as candidate yesterday by the ardcomhairle of Sinn Féin, he said he had “a strong record as a peacemaker” and claimed people saw him “as someone who works for peace”.
He had “every confidence that the peace process will be strengthened by my participation in the presidential election”.
“I will be a people’s president,” he continued. “A president for a new republic in a new time.”
Mr McGuinness noted the 1916 centenary would take place during the new president’s term, adding he appreciated anniversaries of importance to unionists were coming up which would have to be approached with huge sensitivity.
People knew of his past, and he acknowledged he had to reach out to those affected by the actions of republicans. “We have a duty to heal the wounds inflicted by our actions,” he said.
He was “proud to have served in government alongside unionists” and claimed to have “a very deep bond with ordinary working people”. He said the election “needs to be about new beginnings – I do new beginnings”.
Mr McGuinness said he had reflected long and hard on the ups and downs of more than 40 years in politics before coming to a decision to run. “When I first set out on my political journey on the streets of Derry 40 years ago, little did I know that I would be here today in our capital city, announcing my nomination for the presidency.”
He said if elected he would draw the average industrial wage and donate the bulk of the president’s salary to the Irish people.
He said political leaders had to offer hope and a better future for the people of Ireland, and said he had been contacted by many people offering support, including some whose families had lost people at the hands of the IRA.
Mr McGuinness is assured of a nomination with the backing of 14 Sinn Féin TDs, the three party senators and four Independent TDs.
The four TDs who said this weekend they would back him are Finian McGrath, Dublin North Central; Luke “Ming” Flanagan, Roscommon-South Leitrim; and Michael Healy-Rae and Tom Fleming, both of Kerry South.
Mr McGuinness (61), represents Mid-Ulster in the Northern Assembly, and is an abstentionist MP for the constituency in the House of Commons.
