Seán Gallagher still knows a thing or two about fighting, and losing, Irish presidential elections, especially the difficult, time-consuming business of winning the support of local-authority councillors.
Just two candidates have so far declared to run and secured pledges of the necessary nominations: Fine Gael’s Mairead McGuinness, Ireland’s former European commissioner, and Independent TD for Galway West Catherine Connolly.
In 2011, there were signals in May of that year that Gallagher was interested in running for the Áras, but the work on the ground to woo support for the required nominations from four county councils was by then already under way.
On May 23rd, Barack Obama visited Dublin. On the same day, Gallagher and his campaign manager, Cathal Lee, were in the home of the Independent Roscommon councillor Tony Ward in Curraghboy, near Athlone.
“The news came on at six o’clock as Tony was leaning across the table, serving the tea. There was Obama addressing thousands of people in College Green,” Gallagher recalls now.
“‘How come you pair of boys are down here with me and not up with the good and the great in Dublin with Barack Obama?’ said Tony. In chorus, we responded: ‘Because Barack Obama doesn’t have a vote in Roscommon County Council.’”
Gallagher’s point is obvious – the work to win city and county council nominations is work that takes months and not something to be started from scratch in September when councillors first meet after the summer break.
Over the past two months, Gallagher says he has been approached by five people who are interested in running.
In 2011, Gallagher and Lee toured the State meeting councillors: “This is the challenge if anybody’s thinking of going now. You need to write to the council. They will have a council meeting after you write to consider having you at the next meeting.
“There’s 2½ months gone. Without a nomination you can’t fundraise, you can’t build a team, you can’t build a social-media operation, you can’t get posters ready. You can do nothing until you know you’re in the race.”
So far, there is little evidence to suggest that anyone has borrowed from Gallagher’s playbook, though he believes that there is still, just about, time.
“Councillors enjoy being asked and they don’t like blocking people from running in elections. You have to respect the council. And I have huge regard for the work that I know most councillors across the country do. It’s a thankless enough job,” he goes on.
Gallagher, who has strong Fianna Fáil links dating back to his college days, believes the party has a candidate in place, despite the lack of confirmation that they even plan to run one. Former minister Mary Hanafin’s desire to be chosen has met with silence; Northern academic Deirdre Heenan has been mentioned, too, but without receiving signals from Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
The former SDLP leader, Foyle MP Colum Eastwood is clearly interested in running in October’s election, too, preferably with Fianna Fáil backing.
Gallagher believes Martin will back a candidate from outside the party’s official ranks: “He’s not sitting on his hands until September to pick a candidate. That candidate is already in place, I believe.
“They’re staying out of the media, which is a wise strategy. They will run a short campaign at the end, a six-week campaign,” Gallagher says.
Either way, Gallagher is not running – having finished second to Michael D Higgins in the Áras race in 2011, and third in 2018 when he ran for the office again. Gallagher believes the increasing poison in the political air is doing little for democracy.
“It’s no different to business. If you want people to come forward in business and start businesses, but then keep beating them up because they haven’t succeeded then that does not encourage more people to come forward.
“If political campaigns are such that people are trying to take down candidates in whatever way that they can, however unfairly, that doesn’t encourage people to step forward. And that’s not what we need right now,” he says.
