2025 Irish Presidential candidates

Maybe he would do the same as Michael D…

If Martin intends to run I wonder how that will be managed. If we take it that FF and FG will be forming another government after the GE and Harris gets the first turn in the taoiseach's chair then presumably MM quits as FF leader shortly after the election. So will he declare his intentions ahead of the GE? Surely he can't get away with stonewalling questions on this until after the election…

I suppose the issue with the nomination process is that because you need to be nominated by either oireachtas members or by multiple local authorities, the parties can essentially block candidates.

All other elected representatives can be nominated by a number of registered voters rather than needing party backing.

I heard that too - TT is very popular nationally - I like him a lot - but I dunno, not sure if the presidency is a good fit for him.

That's what I'd be thinking myself but he is bookies' favourite and hasn't ruled it out so I was wondering how things would play out if he did make a run for the Aras. You'd be thinking he'd have to declare his hand before the election, otherwise the speculation would totally overshadow FF's campaign but if he did that would he not be coming across like one of those European election candidates like Peadar Toibin who openly declare their intention to hand over the seat to a locum and return to national politics if they win? Don't think it would play well with the voters…

I think we can say

FG have never held the presidency and would really want it. I expect they'll end up doing their usual and pick a bad candidate and somebody else will swoop in.

In my view, with the exception of Micheál Martin, I don't think any current or recent TD would get elected as President. I think full time politics like that ends up with too much baggage out there in the public's eye to get elected. So I think it'll need to come from the other politicians, the likes of the senators or MEPs. I could see a Sean Kelly or Mairead McGuinness candidacy going well.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if it's someone from civic society who gets the backing of a party though that becomes the main runner. No idea who that would be, just a feeling.

Frances Fitzgerald would get my vote

More meaningless 'now' than it was say 50 years ago?

Are you not "Paddy", or are you just talking about other Paddies?

It's as meaningless as it's mostly ceremonial and has no real power. 

Yes because that's how it's set out in the constitution. If you want a different model of presidency you'll need to change how the office is defined in the constitution…

That's exactly what they did do - taking their role very seriously, they agreed that the best candidate was the incumbent.

Saying they should have nominated some no-hoper or nutcase just to force a vote is ridiculous. No credible candidate would have put themselves forward as a guaranteed loser, and no political party would have wasted their resources campaigning for them either. With the possible exception of SF but IIRC they would have needed other parties to support them getting a nomination at that time.

It's Mairead McGuinness for me from the list above. Regarding Frank Finlay, a thousand times NO!

Hah! You got me there. I thought I had changed it to Fergus! Obviously I tripped up!

SF had 5 Dáil seats (and no senators) at the time; it would have required a hell of a lot of enabling. They would have needed almost every single TD and Senator to come in for them; or a deal with another party - none of which would have countenanced it.

Only FG, FF and Labour had the numbers to nominate a candidate via the Oireachtas. Greens had 6 TDs/0 Senators and PDs 8 TDs/4 Senators

Article 12.1.2.1 of the Constitution of Ireland

The President shall be elected by direct vote of the people.

Its not up for discussion.

As for runners and riders; I would have preferred if Fergus Finlay had been nominated by Labour in 2011 over Michael D, but the former is 74 now, and thats too old.

There are a few enthusiastic FGers who want a run, namely Mairead McGuinness and Sean Kelly MEP. Enda Kenny is being mentioned too, but he's 73, so I think not. Likewise Frances Fitzgerald. McGuinness will probably get the nod ultimately, in exchange for having cleared the EU Commissioner road for Michael McGrath without a fuss.

Hard to know who FF will go for. It won't be Bertie, and it won't be Micheál Martin as he intends to be Taoiseach again. They could back a party outsider as they did with Mary McAleese. Perhaps someone like Emily O'Reilly, or Jarlath Burns.

Or it may be that the next FG/FF/Indys coalition will nominate an agreed candidate to share the cost and get a large heft of backing behind.

If I could have my fantasy list of nominees, they would include:

Mairead McGuinness

Catherine Day

Emily O'Reilly

David O'Sullivan

Emily Logan

Frances Black

Simon Coveney

Frank Clarke

Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh

Dr. Mike J Ryan

Professor John Crown

Brendan Gleeson

And no doubt a few more I'll think of.

My criteria is for a person or substance, of keen intelligence, deeply immersed in representing the Country and the People in an important field, and who will advocate for the people and have the character to fight tooth and nail to protect the integrity of the State and the Constitution in every way.

And if I hear any more mentions next year of Kevin Sharkey types or any c**t off of f**king Dragon's Den, I will lose my reason. Take your ego trips elsewhere lads.

Labour would need quite a good election result to be able to nominate without assistance from another party, or multiple parties - 11 Oireachtas reps elected in 2020; need 20. Even the Soc Dems 6 would not be enough if the election results were repeated exactly - lets ignore that there's a lot more seats so both should probably gain at least one if the share of the vote was identical; even both gaining one would leave them one short!

That was the case in 1990 (Workers Party) and 1997 (Democratic Left) too of course. The 1997 funding arrangements arguably caused the party merger - DL owed Labour a six figure sum by the end of it.