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MARY LOU MCDONALD has categorically ruled herself out of running in this year’s presidential election.
Speaking to reporters in Belfast earlier today, McDonald batted away a question about her intentions.
“It won’t be me,” the Sinn Féin leader said.
“I want Sinn Féin to be in government in Dublin. I still believe that we can achieve that, and I know that for progress to be made in so many areas, in housing and giving a chance for our younger people in particular, we need to change the government, and all of my energy and my effort is towards achieving that,” she added.
In December, McDonald told The Journal that a presidential bid was not on her horizon, but many have still speculated that she might be the name put forward by Sinn Féin.
McDonald said today that Sinn Féin is speaking to other parties about a potential joint candidate for parties on the left, however, she said no decision has yet been made on this and that Sinn Féin may still decide to run a Sinn Féin candidate.
Last week, Taoiseach Micheál Martin also ruled himself out of running.
In early November of this year, President Michael D. Higgins will have completed his second term in the role.
No candidates have officially been announced at this point.
In order to get on the ballot, candidates need the support of four councils or 20 members of the Oireachtas.
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Marty Whelan for President
Be great to see McGregor in there tweeting at 2 in the morning and then removing them when he’s in the horrors in the morning.
@Louis Jacob: won’t get a nomination form a council or political party
There’s need to be a disruptor for president. If that is McGegor, Enoch Burke or even Gerry Adams, or someone else, so be it
@AnthonyK: We’ve already had enough of that with Gemma O’Doherty. No thanks.
@AnthonyK: Rising it to get a reaction I see,
@AnthonyK: To disrupt what exactly? And how?
@AnthonyK: Adam’s would be an absolute affront to civilised people everywhere . What message would that send out . One man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist . There are hundreds of families north and south Protestant catholic unionist nationalist who’s lives were impacted by the actions of the organisation he apparently knew nothing about
@AnthonyK: Not Burke. His mother would destroy the place.
@Paul Harte: why not send Adams, Burke and R.py Mcr…peface out on a date together. And the winner gets to be president.
@AnthonyK: why not Gerry Hutch? World us going mad.
No a hern and no mcgrego r
Conor McGregor has it in the bag .. 2 ipas centre’s got go ahead in thurles last two weeks both Lowry’s claim nothing to do with them !!!u
@jn: Andrew Tayto hasn’t a hope in hell. America might elect rap’ists, Ireland doesn’t.
Micheal O’Neil for it
Well done SF, Aontú and Independent Ireland for supporting Garron Noone. The lad was just saying what everyone already knows. FFGL have completely failed this country with their disastrous immigration/integration policies and the dogs in the street know it
SF will never see Government or the Aras and I for one will never vote for them
@linda o keeffe: You are only one, thankfully. I can’t understand people who dismiss them with no proof of what they would be like. Could they be any worse than the shower currently in the Dail.
@linda o keeffe: maybe not in our lifetime, but in another generation or 2, no one will remember the Troubles, and SF Manifesto may be the way the wind blows.
@linda o keeffe: If they replace Mary Lou with the right person; they have every chance. Living in the past is a mugs games.
@linda o keeffe: Totally agree the country does not want SF ever in power they make that very clear.
@Louis Jacob: you’ve hit the nail on the head there, the thing is, there’s no one left alive to remember the violent past of the other parties in the 1920′s, so in a generation or two, why should SF be any different
@Paul Harte: SF has been part of government in the North for a few decade’s, and they have fallen behind the Republic in jobs, income, and even happiness.
@D Farrell: As has the rest of Britain, mainly as a consequence of our rise up the rankings in everything to do with quality of life; and Britains fall. A united Ireland can come soon enough for the North.
@Louis Jacob: can’t
It’ll be a long time before a shinner is considered a genuine contender for the Aras.
@honey badger:
Would you recommend Benjamin Netanyahu? Or Putin, much the same mentality.
@honey badger: You like most FFG apologists spend most of your time talking out of your Aras.
@Daniel Gilroy: https://www.businesspost.ie/politics/mcdonald-tells-sinn-fein-supporters-to-stop-being-pig-ignorant-online/
@honey badger: Awe didums. I’m no SF fan.
@Daniel Gilroy: It’s more like SF apologists speak out of their Aras. They are constantly Mehole this and Mehole that.
@Vincent Alexander: Only speak when spoken too boy.
Ms McDonald has no say who the SF candidate will be. It’s the back room boys in the Falls Rd that will decide.
@Vincent Alexander: Yawn. Same old same old.
The last thing we need is Mary Lou McDonald as President of Ireland. The last three people to hold the office have been left-wing. There’s no need for a fourth one in a row. The President of Ireland is supposed to be a non-partisan role that respects the Irish Constitution and performs the official duties with respect. Mary Lou McDonald or any of the other IRA wannabes at Sinn Fein would not be capable of doing this. In an ideal would, someone like Dermot Desmond would be able to take up the position professionalise it and give someone got Irish people to be proud of but that doesn’t seem to be an option for the next election. The next best option is Michael McDowell, who was Ireland’s best ever Justice Minister when he served from 2002 to 2007 and he will be getting my vote if he runs.
@William Jennings: best ever justice minister? Ha ha.
@William Jennings:
I agree with Michael McDowell, we could do worse.
That said, I think there is a reason that as you put it, the last three have been left wing.
Ireland had become a socially liberal, fiscally conservative country. We like the ideals of liberalism, less church control for instance, the abortion and SSM referendums passed easily.
But we don’t want to pay the extra taxes needed for socialism.
So we will elect a socialist as a figure-head, but conservative centre right parties to hold the purse strings.
@P. J.: I agree with some of what you said. However, I also think that Ireland is just as fiscally liberal as we are socially liberal. All parties in the Dáil support strict rent control, price controls on childcare and GP services, minimum wage increases, high inheritance, income and property taxes, carbon tax increases, carbon-neutral economy by 2050. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are both progressive centre-left and the rest of the parties in the Dáil are either left-wing (Sinn Fein, Labour, Social Democrats) or far-left (PBP). Socialism exists in Ireland and we are a fundamentally mixed economy. The fact that we have the third-highest personal tax burden in Europe shows that fiscal conservatism has been long dead in Ireland since the early 2000s. That’s what is holding Ireland back.
@Philip Kennedy: Well that’s the truth and it’s not my problem if you’re offended. We had the highest criminal conviction rate under McDowell. His Intoxicating Liqueur Act in 2003 is the reason that pubs and bars have to ask for ID from young people. He reformed the citizenship process by ending birthright citizenship entitlements for the children of all immigrants (including those who entered the country illegally), ending the problem of anchor babies in Ireland. Ireland deported the highest number of illegal immigrants under McDowell. Libel and slander laws were simplified and reformed into one offence in his Defamation Bill in 2005, which gave the press more freedom to report. If you think McDowell wasn’t our best Justice Minister, show me some evidence as to why you don’t think so.
@William Jennings: Frank Connolly, The Morris Tribunal for a start.
@William Jennings:
Some good points.
I guess it depends on where you draw that centre line.
Did you live in America for a while?
By American standards Ireland is well out on the left wing, no question about that.
But not by European standards.
That may be the difference, especially since Brexit, we have become a lot more “European”
@P. J.: Yeah I moved to America with my mother when my father walked out on us back in July 1984 and moved in with her sister in Maryland. Crazy to think how long ago that was! You’re right that Europe is far more left-wing than America and even Canada. I feel it has to do with the whole collectivist vs individualist policy preference. The reason I say that I say Ireland is further to the left than other European countries is that Ireland has no right-wing or even centre-right parties in the Dáil right now. I was stationed in Germany and later in Prague while I served in the US military. I also travelled a lot around Europe. I noticed that every single country has some sort of large centre-right or right-wing party in their parliament. Ireland is the only outlier and exception to this.
@Alan: Frank Connolly was a Marxist troublemaker. McDowell’s decision to expose Connolly was an act of national responsibility, not some personal vendetta. Connolly wasn’t just a journalist, he was heavily linked to the IRA and had traveled to Colombia using a false passport to meet with the FARC, a narco-terrorist group involved in training the IRA in explosives. McDowell had every right to warn the public about a man who could have posed a serious threat to the state. Those who attack McDowell for this are essentially arguing that a Justice Minister should have turned a blind eye to potential national security risks. Michael McDowell backed the Morris Tribunal and implemented its recommendations. I don’t understand what the problem is. The scandals revealed were before McDowell.
Mairead or Bertie, not that woke wagon, Francis Black
@Mr. Biggins: Francis Black will be getting my vote if she decides to run. We should always have a president with morals.
Correct Mary Lou! It won’t be young
It’s a party you weren’t invited to
Similar to me and the ‘female orgasm’ party
I was never invited and could never find my way to the location
WAAAAYYYYYY too many rape victims skeletons in the closet
Who would your favourite be as president? Mine would be Aonghus McAnally
Brilliant
Ireland doesn’t need a president.
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