INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE Seán Gallagher has called on fellow Independent David Norris to release further letters the Senator wrote seeking clemency for his former partner Ezra Nawi.
Mr Gallagher, speaking after delivering a speech to supporters at a campaign event in Dublin yesterday, also said Independent candidate Mary Davis should publish any fees she earned for her service on semi-State and commercial boards.
When asked if he believed Mr Norris should release the letters, Mr Gallagher said: “Everybody I think in this race needs to be transparent and open. It’s the highest office in the land and I think we need to get these issues dealt with and move on to the real issue . . . I wouldn’t like to see the campaign marred or distracted by all these controversies. The office doesn’t need it.”
Referring to Ms Davis, he said: “I believe that anybody who has received fees or taxpayers’ money for their involvement on State Boards should clearly publish that. I would support that absolutely. I think that that’s important for transparency.”
During the first television debate of the presidential campaign on the Late Late Showon Friday night, Mr Gallagher was stumped when asked to name the most significant piece of legislation in recent years, saying he could not bring anything specific to mind.
Yesterday he said the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009 dealing with gangland crime had occurred to him afterwards.
Explaining his response on the night, he said: "It's a little bit like if you were on the Mastermindquestion or if you were on Larry Gogan's Just a Minute Quiz. You sort of know all the answers when you're at home but when you're sitting there in a studio . . . "
Mr Gallagher said everybody knew that he came from “the Fianna Fáil gene pool” and that he had never made any secret about his previous involvement with the party and attendance at meetings of its national executive. “I’m absolutely clear that the role of the presidency is . . . above party politics.”
In his speech to supporters in the Royal Hibernian Academy, Mr Gallagher said he had met Taoiseach Enda Kenny last week in Castlebar, Co Mayo. “He said that he wanted to send a flare out throughout the world that Ireland was a place to do business. I said to him then and I say it now, ‘I want to be that flare’,” Mr Gallagher said.
He referred to having been born with congenital cataracts and being virtually blind until he received corrective surgery at the age of four. He said he had struggled to read small print because his eyesight had been so poor.
“Many thought I was a slow learner. Many thought I wouldn’t amount to much,” he said. He told the audience he could not see many of their faces. However, he said he had always led with his ability and not his disability.
“I want to help our Irish companies develop export-led markets because we know the domestic market is too small in order for us to grow our economy and recover,” he said.
He said the Republic was not just an economy but a collection of communities. “The only way we can rebuild this country is one community at a time.”
He was concerned, he said, about the possibility of “generational unemployment and disadvantage”.
THE CAMPAIGN: FOUR KEY POINTS
* ENTERPRISEHe said he was an entrepreneur who understood what enterprise was about.
* CONFIDENCEHe said he wanted to bring hope to the unemployed and was concerned about "generational unemployment".
* REBUILDING COMMUNITIESHe said the last 15 years in Ireland had been about "I and me and myself", but the future should be about communities.
* SOCIAL INCLUSIONHe said he was born with congenital cataracts and wanted to ensure people with disabilities achieved their full potential.
