PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL Senator David Norris last night said he believed there would be no presidential election next November if he had not declared an interest in running for the office.
“My belief is that if were not for my intervention, there would probably not be an election,” he told members of Waterford City Council, where he received a warm reception as he completed a tour of three county councils in the southeast.
He said he had met many young people while travelling the country who could not remember the last time there was a presidential election and believed it was only councillors and politicians who could vote in a contest.
Delivering a typically effusive and ebullient address and then responding to questions from many of the 16 councillors, Mr Norris also identified himself as a candidate of the left while stressing his desire to represent all the people of the nation.
Senator Norris told Independent councillor Cha O’Neill that while he wouldn’t say which political party he most closely identified with, he would describe himself as being of the left and that, along with his liberal outlook, had informed his political career.
“I have spent a lifetime fighting for the underdog, be they Travellers, children, the elderly, carers, the disabled, the disenfranchised and in some ways we are all a little bit disenfranchised now,” he said.
He stressed that while he was a liberal, he was confident that he would follow in the footsteps of both Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese in representing all of the people and using the symbolism of the presidency to unite the nation as a family.
Some had questioned his suitability for office and they were entitled to their opinion but both Mrs Robinson and Mrs McAleese had silenced their detractors by the superb jobs that both had done.
“In the election of the previous two presidents, Ireland took a leap of faith. With these leaps we have grown as a country and matured as a nation, and I am certain that my election would further our country in a similar positive way.”
Mr Norris stressed he was not asking councillors to support him for president but was simply asking for permission to let the Irish people decide on his suitability to represent his country.
“All my life, I have been on the outside knocking to be let in, not just myself but for those I represent. Now again I am knocking. I wish to be allowed to run for the office of president . . . you have the keys, you can let me – I ask you to do so now.”
Mr Norris said he hoped to promote mental health, culture and enterprise during his campaign and he told councillors he was happy to discuss any of the recent charges levelled at him.
None of the councillors questioned him about his views on the age of consent or abortion.
He was proud to call himself a liberal, unlike some American politicians who allowed the term become toxic, said Mr Norris, before saying he too cherished the idea of liberty as espoused by the men of 1798, Robert Emmet, Daniel O’Connell and the men of 1916 among others.
Labour Councillor Seamus Ryan congratulated Senator Norris on his promotion of the mental health issue. Mayor of Waterford Councillor Mary Roche said the council planned to receive independent hopefuls Mary Davis and Sean Gallagher and she hoped the council would facilitate one of them to get a nomination.
