John Drennan: FG and Labour may aid Norris
Parties push candidacy
A cross-party consensus is emerging between Fine Gael and Labour that some way must be found to ensure David Norris gets on the ballot paper for the presidential election.
The Trinity senator is struggling to secure the necessary council support but top figures within both parties now believe democracy will be damaged "if he is not on the pitch''.
The view is not entirely altruistic. Fine Gael wants to get Mr Norris "on the pitch so we can get him off the pitch once he's there'', while the Labour Party favours a Norris candidacy on the grounds that [Labour candidate] "Michael D [Higgins] will be best-positioned to secure his transfers when he goes out''.
Meanwhile, the issue of who will be the FG player is now so complex that many within the party believe the Taoiseach's political enforcer Phil Hogan will be the effective king-maker at Fine Gael's selection convention, which may be topped-off with an "an X Factor-style presidential debate'' between the candidates next Thursday.
In spite of his self-proclaimed status as the establishment candidate, support is slipping away from the EU insider Pat Cox.
Top-level supporters of Mr Cox warned that "if Fine Gael wants to retain the winning habit, Cox is the only choice'' and said of the current contenders that "one [Gay Mitchell] is too light and the other [Avril Doyle] too late".'
There is somewhat more support for Mairead McGuinness, who is seen as being "outside of Cox, the only really viable choice if we want to keep up our winning average''.
The choice of Mr Cox is, however, meeting a great deal of resistance amongst the party's foot soldiers. He cut a lonely figure in Leinster House last week as he loitered around corridors waiting to canvass TDs.
Intriguingly, the candidate who has made the most significant progress is Ms McGuinness. The former RTE presenter had initially been discounted but she is securing significant levels of support amongst activists and councillors in places such as Donegal, where it is believed she has secured 75 per cent of the councillors' votes.
- JOHN DRENNAN
Originally published in
