Following his visit to the White House on St Patrick’s Day, mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Conor McGregor repeated that he intends to run in this year’s Irish Presidential election.
To secure a nomination will require the backing of 20 members of the Oireachtas or four local authorities.
The Irish Times surveyed the country’s 949 local councillors to gauge their attitude towards Mr McGregor’s candidacy and if they are concerned about coming under outside pressure.
None of the 187 who replied said they would vote to nominate the 36-year-old.
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This is a selection of the responses received:
Councillors are elected to serve the interests of their constituents here in Ireland, not those of Elon Musk or anyone else. Should a member of a local authority vote in favour of McGregor’s nomination, it would be purely indicative of their character, their worldview, and their poor judgment. – Luke Corkery (Fine Gael), Fingal County Council
Mr McGregor is undoubtedly a divisive figure. And with the world becoming more polarised every day, what we need in a president is someone who can soften division, not sharpen it. Unfortunately, Mr McGregor’s natural instinct seems to be to split people into corners – be they red or blue, or in his case, the nearest boxing ring or UFC octagon. That might work for pay-per-view, but it won’t do for the presidency of Ireland. – Rita McInerney (Fianna Fáil), Clare County Council
No such pressure would ever influence me to even consider voting for that horrid man. – Stiofán Conaty (Sinn Féin), Cavan County Council
Expecting getting online pressure/abuse but that has already been on the rise. – Pierce Dargan (Fine Gael), Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council
We are not exactly wilting violets. Should anybody approach me in that fashion, I would tell to go and **** themselves. – Seamus Butler (Fine Gael), Longford County Council
I feel we are living in a time where extreme views have become mainstream, particularly online, and having Conor McGregor as president would only add fuel to those views. In my opinion he is very unsuitable for this office and his views would not represent all the citizens of our country.
Whether people agree or disagree with his beliefs (and I disagree strongly with most of them), he is undeniably far too quick to voice personal opinion to be considered for a position which is supposed to be non-political and where far more decorum than Conor McGregor has ever displayed is required. – John O’Donoghue (Kerry Independent Alliance), Kerry County Council
He is badly informed as to his status, credibility, suitability, eligibility or selectability for representative office. His unsuitability should be clearly stated by public representatives to give assurances to the public that nominees should be people who “mirror” decency, citizenship-honour, who “inspire and promote” Irishness and Irish-values and not “maverick”, anti-establishment “pop-ups” who favour “adversarial limelight” over balanced and integrated community harmonisation. – Seamie Moore (Independent), Kildare County Council
He appears to be following president Trump’s game plan of attacking those who don’t/won’t support him by challenging them personally and their character. – David Fitzgerald (Fine Gael), Kilkenny County Council
Many people have contacted me urging me not to nominate him. I have had absolutely no one yet asking me to nominate him. – Colm O’Rourke (Fine Gael), Dublin City Council
In terms of any concerns about potential demands from McGregor for a council nomination, as the fella says, pressure is for tyres. – Paul Mulville (Social Democrats), Fingal County Council
