While others were running for presidency, Seán Gallagher was running for the nomination – that is why he is the first Independent to bag one, writes NOEL WHELAN
SINCE I mentioned here last week that I knew Seán Gallagher, I have been asked repeatedly “what is his story” and “how did he manage to get a nomination for the presidential election?”
The story takes a bit of telling. Seán and I shared a house for two years about 20 years ago. At the time Seán was working as a special adviser to Rory O’Hanlon, then the minister for health, and I was in Fianna Fáil headquarters. It was my first job, but Seán had already had a varied career. Having been to agricultural college, he first worked in that sector before getting involved in youth and community development work. He went on to study in Maynooth, where he was one of the first in the country to complete a professional course for community and youth workers.
He had been involved in Ógra Fianna Fáil for a while just after college, which is why Rory O’Hanlon, his local deputy, asked him to become his adviser. Seán, however, was not a typical political hack. While the rest of us were absorbed in the political dramas then convulsing the country at the end of the Haughey era, Seán’s focus was on the constituency side of Rory’s operation. He spent his time working on individual representations, labouring and worrying over the particularly tricky or deserving case files he came across. He seemed to see this work as an extension, albeit on a micro level, of the community work in which he was previously engaged.
When Albert Reynolds became taoiseach and sacked Rory from cabinet, Seán’s job suddenly disappeared. He spent the next year or so working on a number of projects, the most interesting of which was writing a national alcohol education programme for a joint initiative by the National Youth Council of Ireland and Department of Health.
Sharing the house was good crack. We were kindred spirits to the extent that we were both rural kids from relatively humble origins enjoying the challenges and opportunities of life in the capital. He was fun company, alternative in some ways, but never took himself too seriously. He was an all-rounder. Unlike me, he could cook and was an active type without being a health freak, although he does have black belts in both judo and karate. He had depth and a spiritual dimension but in a low-key way.
He was content in himself, grounded in his family and his rural heritage, driven but not pushy, personable and authentic. He was self-made but far from self-absorbed.
I moved out in early 1993 and we lost touch. I heard some time later that he had gone to work for the Louth county enterprise board and that he had an occasional involvement in politics there including as Séamus Kirk’s director of elections in the 1997 election.
The next I heard of Seán was when he was nominated as a finalist in the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year. I was shocked. The last thing I had expected was that he would become a businessman. I always thought he would end up as a social entrepreneur or leader of some community or sporting group.
I met him a few years later at a social function where we reminisced a bit and I watched him some Sunday nights on Dragon’s Den. Apart from that I had not spoken to him until a couple of weeks ago.
I recently asked a good friend of mine what she thought of the presidential election line-up. She surprised me when she said that, of those offering, she was inclined to vote for Gallagher. She had never met him, so I was curious to know why. Herself the mother of a very young man, she offered the view that what this country needs most right now are role models for young men.
While I had admired Seán’s decision to declare an interest in the presidency, I hadn’t given his bid much credence up to that point. I found a number for him, rang him and suggested we meet for coffee. He was on the road and told me he wouldn’t be back in Dublin for a couple of weeks. It was then it dawned on me that he was going to get a nomination. While others were launching public relations operations to promote their candidature, Gallagher was out in the field, sitting down for cups of tea with councillors in their own kitchens. While others were running for the presidency, Gallagher was running for the nomination. That is why he is the first of the Independents to bag one.
It was only when we had time to catch up last week that I became aware he had spent the last two years talking to about 200 business, professional, community and voluntary groups all over the country on a broad theme of coping with the recession. He charges the former a speaking fee, the latter he does for free.
While he has the advantage of being in the field before July, Gallagher still has a mountain to climb. At this point it looks insurmountable. He starts with strong name recognition because of Dragon’s Den but that profile risks caricaturing him. His challenge will be to build a nationwide campaign.
Seán will also, at least initially, have to field predictable media questions about his political past. A Fianna Fáil background is neither a criminal offence nor a disqualifier. All but one of our presidents, including the incumbent, came to the presidency with more extensive political backgrounds than Gallagher. All went on to do the job well on a non-party basis.
Political experience is not a prerequisite for becoming president. However, character and judgment are. Seán has them in spades.