In November, when raking over the ashes of this year’s presidential campaign, this sweltering mid-August week might just mark the start of the campaign proper, at least from the point of view of the interest from the general public.
A hitherto fore dull campaign, notable for the paucity of declared candidates, was thrown into turmoil by Mairead McGuinness’s shock withdrawal on health grounds on Thursday.
By some distance it was the most read story on irishtimes.com that day in a week when the emergence of Gareth Sheridan as a potential candidate also generated significant interest among readers.
For a 24-hour period after her resignation, more people in Ireland were searching Google for information about McGuinness than those interested in the return of the Premier League or the Oasis concerts in Dublin.
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By Friday, Mairead McGuinness and Gareth Sheridan were two of the top three trending search terms among residents of Ireland over the past week.
Mr Sheridan’s bid to enter the race also highlighted the scrutiny any potential candidate can expect.
Mr Sheridan, who formally launched his presidential campaign in Dublin on Thursday, has had to respond to reports on his business partner’s possible involvement in a controversial Air Moldova deal and possible links to Russian oligarchs.
The 35-year-old pharma businessman from Terenure in Dublin, who has stepped aside as chief executive of his company Nutriband for the duration of the campaign, has also faced reports on the resignation of former presidential candidate Seán Gallagher from his role at Nutriband, and the share ownership structure of his company.
Mr Sheridan is seeking a nomination from local authorities in order to get on the ballot paper.
An insight into the aspects of the candidate that people are curious about can be gleaned from Google search results last week, when people searched online for more information on his “net worth”, “wife”, his relationship with Seán Gallagher and his links to Israel.
Last week also saw former chief medical officer Tony Holohan offer the strongest signal yet that he will enter the race, following the results of research carried out on his potential candidacy.
However, it is the withdrawal McGuinness, leaving just one official candidate in Independent TD Catherine Connolly, that has injected much-needed urgency into the campaign.
Fine Gael now must quickly find a new candidate. Others may spy opportunity. As of Saturday it was still up in the air who that candidate might be, with Seán Kelly “weighing up his options”, while Heather Humphreys remains the favoured candidate among the Fine Gael parliamentary party.
What is certain is that the withdrawal of the frontrunner means the race for the Áras just became even more unpredictable.
David Labanyi
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