SEVEN YEARS BEFORE the Labour party chose Michael D Higgins to run for President of Ireland — they chose not to run him.
This was September 2004 — ten years ago this month — and, as Pat Rabbitte (then Labour leader) explains in the clip, the party had other priorities at the time.
Mary McAleese had already announced at this point that she would stand for a second term.
In the end (despite a last-gasp attempt from Dana) no other candidate got the requisite support to enter the election, and an unopposed McAleese began her second term on 1 October that year.
Michael D, of course, went on to secure the Labour nomination in 2011. He’s vowed to serve only one seven-year term in the Phoenix Park, despite being entitled to put himself forward for a second.
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