With the nomination of Tipperary County Council in his back pocket, businessman Gareth Sheridan is halfway to making it on to the presidential ballot paper come October 24th.
There are a few lessons to take away from this and the votes cast so far.
Firstly, the path through the councils remains a narrow one. Of the 13 local authorities that have decided so far, only two have nominated. (Wicklow County Council is still holding its meeting at time of writing.)
Given the strength of the three large parties on local authorities, not to mention Fine Gael’s whip, it is proving harder this time to convert councils. Not many, if any, will come through.
RM Block
Secondly, Gareth Sheridan appears to have the best ground game so far. The clear evidence for this is his two nominations. But there appears to be significant strategic thinking going into his campaign.
He sent every Independent councillor a copy of his book, From No to Nasdaq. Whether many of them read it is unclear, and who knows if within its pages there exists a compelling argument for making him president. But it shows the campaign has internalised the importance of name recognition and outreach to councillors.
Sheridan has, apparently, been speaking with some councillors since April, beginning with Independents and then branching out to the other parties. He has now converted two of the three councils he has targeted so far. He lost out in Laois by 11 votes to eight.
His campaign has targeted local authorities with significant numbers of Independent representatives and with a track record of endorsing candidates in the last three presidential elections. The team sought commitments from a proposer and seconder in advance, often asking them to act as an intermediary when navigating the terrain and understanding the dynamics of each council and handling introductions to other councillors.
Thirdly, despite the presence of the large parties, candidates can squeeze through. In Tipperary, the council held a vote on a motion determining whether or not to proceed to a full vote. Councillors from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael issued an unsuccessful countermotion to oppose a full vote. When a full vote on potential candidates came, Sheridan and Cork City councillor Kieran McCarthy were proposed and seconded. Sheridan won easily, securing 17 votes, versus three against and 16 abstentions.
Fourthly, the aforementioned ground war is more important than winning the air war with national media coverage. With the endgame in sight, Sheridan has apparently targeted Carlow and Offaly county councils in particular.
Carlow representatives meet on Friday, while Offaly is part of the second “super Monday” round of meetings, with eight local authorities set to convene then. His team believes he can secure a proposer and seconder in both. It is thought that he is not targeting nominations from the other three local authorities that meet on Friday: South Dublin, Wexford and Waterford.
What does this all add up to? Even if he scrapes together another two endorsements, Sheridan will be up against more seasoned players on the ballot. But he will have momentum on his side. It seems logical now that the larger parties will pay closer attention to the remaining local authority votes, putting pressure on their councillors and perhaps making the path for Independents even narrower.
For now, there is optimism in Sheridan’s camp. “Initially nobody thought we could get two [nominations],” a spokesman said. “We believe we have a pathway to get two more.”
