Gareth Sheridan only Áras hopeful to gain a nod so far as 'Super Monday' comes to a close

LAST UPDATE | 17 hrs ago

BUSINESSMAN GARETH SHERIDAN has secured one of the four local authority nominations he needs to gain a place on the presidency ballot paper, thanks to Kerry County Council.

Several other county councils decided today, after hearing would-be presidential candidates’ pitches, to nominate no-one.

Today has been dubbed ‘Super Monday’ because nine local authorities are holding special meetings to hear from Áras hopefuls seeking their backing. Gaining the support of councils is an alternative route for would-be candidates who do not have sufficient backing from members of the Oireachtas.

Sheridan, along with eleven other prospective candidates, addressed Kerry County Council last Monday.

This morning the council met again and decided to nominate the man from Terenure in south Dublin. 

Sheridan thanked the council in a statement for backing him. He said he is now focused on winning three more nominations.

He added that the “Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael block makes it very difficult” but said he is “not deterred”.

“We have worked for months on a strategy with Independent Councillors as to where we could engineer a result even if there was a block in place,” he said.

Fine Gael has instructed its councillors across the country to oppose the nomination of Independent candidates for the presidential election. 

Laois, Westmeath and Kildare were among the local authorities hearing from candidates this afternoon, with city councils in Galway, Cork and Dublin convening this evening.

Roscommon

Roscommon County Council opted not to nominate any of the candidates it heard from.

A number of candidates laid out their interest in being nominated to contest the Presidential election – however it was decided by the council to not support their candidacy. 

Councillor Liam Callaghan (FG), Cathaoirleach of the council said: “Every member had an opinion. There was an opportunity for them to nominate but I suppose the candidates just didn’t connect directly with the councillors.

“When we went to look for a nomination, no councillor was convinced that they wished to nominate the candidates and the outcome there were no nominations taken then for the position.”

Laois

Aisling Moran, an Independent councillor, had proposed Gareth Sheridan and this was seconded but not, ultimately, accepted.

She said others should be allowed on the ballot, in addition to those backed by parties. 

Some councillors in Laois said they would endorse Gareth Sheridan being on the ballot, even though they won’t be voting for him on election day.

But when the vote came on whether or not to endorse a candidate, councillors voted against it 11-8. 

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Longford

Longford County Council has followed Roscommon and Laois in deciding not to nominate a presidential candidate.

The council heard a proposal to nominate independent candidate Maria Steen. Leas-cathaoirleach Niall Gannon told The Journal that the proposal was defeated by 7 votes to 2, with 6 abstentions.

The local authority is made up of eight Fianna Fáil councillors, eight Fine Gael councillors and two Independents.

Garry Murtagh, Cathaoirleach of the Council and a member of Fine Gael said that his party had decided to only back Heather Humphreys.

“The two Independent candidates did vote in favor of an Independent candidate but the other members either abstained or voted no.

“That’s our stand. For me, possibly, if it was a different candidate than Heather Humphreys, I would have to consider but…I feel personally that she is a good candidate,” he said. 

Kildare

A number of prospective candidates spoke at Kildare County Council today. These included Dominic Plant, a former IT and GDPR manager as well as Dr Cora Stack, a mathematics lecturer at TUD.

As councillors were not asking questions of the candidates, it passed with little fanfare.

The Council will meet again next week to decide whether or not to back a candidate. 

Galway

Galway City Council decided not to nominate any candidate. 

Councillors thanked the three hopefuls who appeared at the meeting to make their pitches today – Nick Delehanty, Diarmuid Mulcahy and Keith McGrory – and wished them well in their respective campaigns. 

Cork City

Cork City Council also voted not to back any presidential hopefuls.

After hearing from seven candidates today, councillors voted by a margin of 15 votes to 10 not to nominate a candidate for the election next month. There were two abstentions. 

Dublin City

Dublin City Council became the sixth local authority today not to nominate a candidate for the election.

A total of 50 councillors voted in favour of a motion that the council would not nominate a candidate, with nine voting against this motion.

‘Lucky-bag president’

At this morning’s meeting in Kerry, councillors had a short skirmish-like debate. While Fianna Fáil councillor Norma Moriarty advised caution and the need to avoid a “a lucky bag president” other councillors, like Johnny Healy Rae – one of three Healy-Raes on Kerry County Council – took a different view.

He argued nomination was one of the limited powers councils possessed and that it should use that power.

In the final vote on whether to support a candidate, the result was 14 in favour and 18 against, meaning Kerry County Council would nominate a candidate.

Two members of the council proposed and seconded businessman Gareth Sheridan for the nomination, and with no other names put forward, he got one of four nominations needed to join the ballot.

With reporting from Olivia Kelleher

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