'The President shall be elected by direct vote of the people' - Article 12.2.1 Bunreacht na hEireann
The Irish Constitution is abundantly clear in relation to the election of the President of Ireland. It directs that the role should not be dictated by the narrow interests of any individual, group or political party but by the democratic right of the people.
In this context, last week I wrote to the mayor or chair of each of the country's local authorities.
I urged them to formally schedule time during their September council meetings to facilitate councillors giving consideration to nominating a candidate in the upcoming presidential election on October 25.
As a result of the decision by Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour not to run a candidate, most independent candidates will now be forced to seek a nomination from four separate local authorities if they are to have any chance of getting into the electoral race.
As I know from my own candidacy in 2011, this is no easy undertaking given that protocol requires that councils receive advance notice to have such important items listed on the agenda. Because many councils hold their meetings in the earlier part of the month, the opportunity to have this included on the July agenda is now past for most councils. Added to this, councils do not meet in August.
Seán Gallagher running as an independent candidate during the last presidential election campaign
Therefore the time available to independents to receive a nomination is now extremely short.
Given the uncertainty as to whether they will or will not receive a nomination, it makes it incredibly difficult for independents to begin building a team or engaging in fundraising activities.
Is this a coincidence? Of course not. This is politics at its best or more accurately, its worst.
The right of local authorities to nominate a candidate for the presidential election is a significant right provided by our Constitution and is clearly intended to ensure that the election process to the highest office in the land is both inclusive and democratic.
My decision in 2011 to run for President was the toughest decision of my life. Looking at the change that previous office holders had brought to the role and given the economic challenges that Ireland faced, I felt that the time had come for someone from the world of business and enterprise to become President.
Apart from the significance of this at home, I felt it would also help in projecting a positive image of Ireland abroad as a country that was modern, dynamic and open for business. I felt then, as I do now, that the office of President should be much more active in supporting the work of government and state agencies in these areas through working with, for example, Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and Tourism Ireland.
To secure a nomination in 2011, I spent months meeting councillors in their own homes and addressing council meetings all across the country. Challenging as it was, I eventually secured the support of four local authorities: Clare County Council, Leitrim County Council, Meath County Council and Cork City Council. This was only made possible by those councillors on the four local authorities who were courageous enough to nominate me.
Back to the 2018 election. The attempt by the main political parties to prevent their Oireachtas members supporting independent candidates seems a clear intention to strangle any chance of a democratic contest.
For that reason, it now firmly rests with the elected members of every local authority to uphold the intention enshrined in our constitution and ensure the forthcoming election is a truly open, democratic and inclusive one.
Councillors are the closest link to the electorate. They live and operate in a world outside of the bubble that exists in Leinster House and the media gaggle that surrounds it.
Since issuing my appeal last week, I have been heartened by the huge number of calls and emails I have received in support of this view.
As of this weekend, I have been contacted by councillors in 17 different local authorities who have indicated that they have or are intending to, place on the agenda for the September meeting of their councils, a formal mechanism to allow a presidential candidate be nominated.
Together, these 17 councils have the power to nominate four independent candidates into the race. I fully expect more councils to follow suit.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the centre of gravity in relation to the nomination process for the presidential election has now shifted from the Oireachtas to the 949 councillors across Ireland.
It is worth remembering that during the 2011 presidential election, councillors on 26 separate local authorities exercised their constitutional right to nominate a candidate.
I acknowledged and praised them for exercising their right then and I encourage them to exercise it again on this occasion.
Any attempt by party leaders to muzzle or constrain councillors from exercising that right should be strongly resisted.
In the interest of ensuring that the upcoming presidential election is both inclusive and democratic, I challenge the leaders of all political parties to immediately, publicly and unequivocally issue a direction to all elected councillors of all local authorities, reasserting their right under the Constitution to nominate a candidate if they so wish.
Surely councillors should be allowed to make that decision free from political diktats from party headquarters or party leaders.
In the 2011 election when I had received nominations from the required four local authorities and consistent with my approach of welcoming others into the race, I requested that all future motions that were due to be advanced at other local authority meetings which would have the effect of nominating me, be withdrawn to facilitate the nomination of other candidates, namely David Norris and Dana Rosemary Scallon.
In the knowledge that councillors in Carlow, Donegal, Longford, Offaly, Roscommon and Waterford were scheduled to nominate me, I requested that they change their nomination to allow David Norris and Dana into the contest. That is democracy.
It is worth noting too that some of those councillors who nominated, or supported the nomination of David Norris and of Dana were councillors who were already actively engaged in campaigning with me and for me.
They felt, as I do, that you cannot claim to be a democrat and talk about encouraging people into politics while at the same time taking actions that deliberately prevent candidates running for political office.
It would be highly ironic that on the 100th anniversary of the election to the first Dail, held in 1918, that a small group of political elites in Ireland are now effectively deciding that an election to the highest office in the land does not suit their own political agendas and is therefore unnecessary.
'New Politics' was officially born in Ireland in May 2016 with a Government formed without a Dail majority, requiring a confidence and supply agreement with Fianna Fail to govern.
An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is a creation of this 'New Politics'. He leads without a majority in the Dail and without a clear mandate from the electorate.
That is why it appears bizarre and indeed politically disingenuous for him to now instruct Fine Gael councillors to oppose the nomination of other candidates seeking a nomination via the local authority process.
This has all the hallmarks of a type of political arrogance that has no place in a modern and politically inclusive Ireland.
As Bunreacht na hEireann states: "The President shall be elected by direct vote of the people". It would appear now that Brendan Howlin, Leo Varadkar and Micheal Martin would rather that line in the Constitution read: "The President shall be elected by a group of political elites conspiring to ensure that there is no direct vote of the people."
In writing to council members last week, I wanted to highlight the difficulty all independent candidates face when seeking to secure a nomination to run for President. This is a process that should be more open and inclusive so as to ensure that the electorate have a choice of candidates who fully reflect the diverse and changing Ireland we now live in.
In the interest of democracy, there should certainly now be a presidential election and those who feel they have something to offer to the country should be entitled to put their name before the electorate.
After all, that is what real democracy is all about.
