SINN FÉIN IS expected to make a decision this weekend on who it will pick to contest the presidential election.
The party’s Ard-Comhairle will meet this weekend to decide on who to select, a party spokesperson confirmed to TheJournal.ie today, but the details of that meeting and whether it will happen on Saturday or Sunday are not yet clear.
Sinn Féin’s intention to support a candidate in the presidential election was made clear by Gerry Adams at the party’s Árd Fheis last weekend.
He subsequently revealed that the party was looking at “three or four” internal candidates it could put forward.
Names mentioned as possible candidates include Northern Ireland deputy first minister Martin McGuinness, Fermanagh-South Tyrone TD Michelle Gildernew and Dublin Central TD Mary Lou McDonald, although the latter has ruled herself out of contention.
With 14 TDs and three Senators, Sinn Féin would need the support of three other Oireachtas members in order to ensure the party’s candidate was on the ballot paper.
Meanwhile, independent senator David Norris is expected to announce his re-entry into the presidential race on tonight’s Late Late Show.
Norris exited the contest in August following the controversy over a letter of appeal he wrote for former partner Ezra Nawi who was convicted of the statutory rape of a 15-year-old boy in the 1990s.
However, since his departure, a number of polls and an online petition have indicated significant support for him re-entering the race. He met with independent TDs yesterday, one of whom told TheJournal.ie that Norris spoke as an “active candidate”.
The senator would need to find the support of 20 Oireachtas members in order to ensure his name is on the ballot paper. Where those names will come from is not clear.
Before exiting the race in August, Norris had the support of 15 independent TDs and Senators but some of these dropped their support when the controversial letter emerged.
The Trinity scholar is expected to receive a petition from members of the ‘We Want Norris’ campaign, which has collected over 10,000 signatures, outside Leinster House this afternoon before appearing on the Late Late Show tonight.
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