At least 14 independent presidential hopefuls will seek the support of councillors to enter next month’s election when Kerry County Council meets on Monday.
Individuals who wish to enter the race need the support of 20 Oireachtas members or four councils to contest the election.
Several councils plan to hold special meetings to hear from independent candidates over the next 2½ weeks.
Those expected to address the first such meeting in Kerry include businessman Gareth Sheridan, former solicitor Nick Delehanty, barrister and conservative campaigner Maria Steen, and former lord mayor of Cork Cllr Kieran McCarthy.
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Michael Foley, a Fine Gael councillor and local authority cathaoirleach, said his party’s six representatives will abide by instructions from headquarters. This means he will vote against nominating any candidate.
He told RTÉ radio there are 27 other councillors in Kerry and “it is open for every candidate to come in to convince those other 27”.
Fianna Fáil’s leader on the council, Norma Moriarty, told The Irish Times that her party’s internal contest between former Dublin football manager Jim Gavin and MEP Billy Kelleher is “exercising most people’s thoughts at the moment”.
She said the nine councillors from her party in Kerry would be “fair to everybody” that addresses the council on Monday, adding: “We’ll engage with them where we feel it’s worthy.”
Asked if the party’s councillors there would defy any potential Fianna Fáil order not to facilitate independent candidates, she said: “We’re not dealing in hypotheticals.”
Local Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae has declared his support for Fine Gael’s candidate Heather Humphreys.
His son, Kerry councillor Jackie Healy-Rae, said he will not propose or second any prospective candidate for a nomination. However, he did not rule out supporting someone to get on the ballot paper.
He said he has only been contacted by two of the potential candidates, Mr Sheridan and Mr Delehanty.
Mr Healy-Rae said: “I don’t know one thing high up or low down about the majority of the people that are coming to Kerry on Monday.”
The councillor criticised those who did not make contact, saying they did not “at the minimum pick up the phone and say this is who I am”. He added: “Do they think we’re donkeys or what?”
Twelve of Kerry County Council’s 33 councillors are Independents, but Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael – which will both field their own presidential candidates – have significant numbers on the local authority.
As well as selecting Ms Humphreys as its candidate, Fine Gael has instructed its councillors to vote against councils nominating others to enter the race.
Fianna Fáil has not yet issued guidance to its councillors, though it is likely to do so before a vote in Kerry on a potential nominee.
Any such vote will not be held until a meeting of Kerry County Council next Monday, September 15th.
