The Race for the Áras (5 page)

Crowley was first elected to the European Parliament in 1994 and was a consistent poll-topper, being returned at every election. A hard constituency worker, he remained hugely popular, and supporters believed that he had charisma and cross-party appeal and that he had a distance from the toxicity associated with members of the Fianna Fáil Government.

Meanwhile there was increasing speculation that Dana (Rosemary Scallon) and the distinguished artist Robert Ballagh might enter the race. Ballagh (68), a lifelong socialist and republican, had taken soundings about running a broad left-wing programme in opposition to economic cut-backs and the bank bailout. He had discussions with Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Féin, Richard Boyd Barrett of the People Before Profit Alliance and the leader of the Socialist Party, Joe Higgins.

The entrepreneur and chairman of Aer Árann, Pádraig Ó Céidigh, also announced that he was considering standing as an independent, having been approached by a number of business and community leaders. ‘I have a clear vision of the Irish as a people and our unique qualities,' he said.

In the coming days, political endorsements for Norris began slipping away as three independent
TD
s withdrew their pledge to support his nomination just days after the
Sunday Independent
published the clemency plea. Most significantly, Finian McGrath, the Dublin
TD
who had co-ordinated Norris's Oireachtas nomination bid, withdrew his support, saying that ‘children and the Presidency have to come first'.

The Waterford
TD
John Halligan also announced that he was withdrawing his support, as did the Donegal South-West
TD
Thomas Pringle. Deputy Halligan felt it was

The online news site
www.thejournal.ie
conducted an opinion poll that attracted almost a thousand voters. Three out of four said the revelations about Nawi would damage Norris's bid. On Eamon Dunphy's Sunday chat show on Newstalk radio the former presidential hopeful Fergus Finlay called on Norris to resign from the race, and to consider his position in the Seanad.

Meanwhile the independent Dublin
TD
Maureen O'Sullivan voiced her support for Norris, saying he should be allowed to be judged by the electorate. ‘He was looking at mitigating circumstances regarding the sentence. He has been targeted in a particularly nasty way, right from the beginning.'

The August public holiday edition of the
Irish Daily Star
was unequivocal in its insistence that Norris was wrong and that he should resign from the campaign, and consider his position in the Seanad.

The
Daily Mail
reminded readers of an interview by Jason O'Toole published in the paper the previous year. In it Norris said that his relationship with Nawi had continued longer than was suggested as the controversy broke, and that he did not believe in an age of consent.

Norris was due to be the guest presenter on that night's episode of Vincent Browne's political chat show, but as the media clamour grew too loud he pulled out.

Norris had phoned the
PR
consultant Paul Allen on the Saturday from a friend's home in Monkstown, Co. Dublin, where he was staying while the media were camped outside his house in North Great George's Street. They met on Sunday as Norris celebrated his sixty-seventh birthday and agreed to meet again the following day, when Allen advised him to resign. Allen later recalled: ‘You cannot go any further with this, I told him.' At three in the afternoon Norris agreed to the inevitable, and the team got to work on an exit strategy.

The following day, Tuesday the 2nd, the media were summoned to a press conference to be hosted by Norris outside his home. Norris, Allen and McCabe were across the road in the home of Norris's friends, the barristers Muireann Noonan and Tony Collins. They could look through the curtains and watch the event on Norris's doorstep. The speech was completed and copies printed. Norris left his friends' house by the back door and drove around the block in his black Jaguar, pulling up outside his own house at 3 p.m. in front of the assembled throng of about fifty reporters and photographers. Then, behind a red rope, his hands sometimes trembling, his eyes glazed, the toll and strain apparent on his face, he said:

Norris did not take any questions. He was applauded by a few onlookers as he delivered his final line, a quotation from Samuel Beckett: ‘Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.' Then, with a big smile and a final theatrical wave for the cameras, he turned and closed his door on the world.

Later that evening he confirmed that he would not be resigning from the Seanad. He then began packing for a trip to his other home in Cyprus to avoid the media glare.

Meanwhile the
Irish Times
reported that

There would be much speculation about the content of the letters, and demands that they be made public, but they were not released.

Always robust in protecting its reputation, the Israeli embassy in Dublin issued a statement saying that allegations that it had been involved in the publication of the letter written by Norris to the court in Israel had ‘absolutely no foundation'. In a statement the embassy said, ‘No such letter was or is in the possession of the Embassy; as in Ireland, the judicial system in democratic Israel is entirely separate from the Government and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.'

After Norris resigned, Harry McGee in the
Irish Times
revealed the identity of the blogger who publicised the sentencing of Nawi for statutory rape in 1997. John Connolly, who blogs under the title ‘The System Works', which advances strongly pro-Israeli views, rejected any claims of conspiracy or an orchestrated smear campaign. He said his source was a regular correspondent with his blog, came from a trade union background and had once campaigned for Michael D. Higgins but was not associated with the Labour Party. The party immediately issued a denial that it or its candidate had anything to do with the Norris controversy.

Connolly's role drew scorn because of its political agenda, but it also won praise for bringing about ‘the first major victory of the Irish blogosphere', according to the
Irish Independent
. According to Connolly,

Connolly, from Bandon, Co. Cork, is a graduate of Griffith Law School in Dublin and has lived in England. He confirmed that he had posted his story on the Israeli embassy's Facebook page.

Back-room campaign experts and the candidates themselves would all say that the social media had a role to play, but it was only when these were taken up and put into the mainstream electronic or print media that there was clear cause and effect. However, it was clear that they were growing in importance and in reach for political campaigns—as they would again in the 2011 presidential campaign.

 

The bookies Paddy Power updated their latest betting for the Áras. Michael D. Higgins was firm favourite at 5:6, Gay Mitchell a close second at 13:8, Mary Davis 5:1, Seán Gallagher 12:1, Brian Crowley 16:1 and Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh and Mary Hanafin 50:1. They also opened a book on whether Fianna Fáil would run a candidate, with the betting at Yes 5:4 and No 4:7.

The outspoken
Star
columnist Terry McGeehan summed up his relief that a potential constitutional crisis had been avoided after Norris withdrew.

The editorial of the
Irish Times
was more sober in its language but said Norris had no choice but to resign. It felt that his withdrawal should not be the end of the matter, because it was possible that Norris, as the most popular candidate in the field, would not qualify as a contender. This was unacceptable, and the Government ‘should ask the proposed constitutional convention to review nomination requirements for the position, rather than confine their assessment to cutting the presidential term from seven to five years.' It also said that petitions by politicians to the courts on behalf of constituents should be banned, as well as appeals to Ministers for Justice seeking reductions in fines and penalties already imposed by the courts. It concluded: ‘If Mr Norris's derailed attempts to secure a nomination result in these political flaws being addressed and repaired, he will have done democracy some service.'

The following day the
Irish Independent
revealed that Nawi had fought a five-year legal battle, involving two appeals, to avoid being jailed for the statutory rape of a boy. He was sentenced to six months in prison after a plea bargain was accepted by the Jerusalem High Court. He was jailed in November 1997 but released three months later.

Dearbhail McDonald in the
Irish Independent
repeated Israeli media reports that Nawi also had convictions for the illegal use of a weapon, for possession of drugs for personal use, for entering a closed military area and for threatening behaviour.

McCabe wrote of his experience for the
Sunday Independent
, saying that fifteen months earlier he had met Norris for coffee in Leinster House and told him he needed to build a ‘national support structure' and could not be a ‘marginal or issues based' candidate.

He wrote that they established twenty teams across the country, with two hundred volunteers, and at close of business had thirty thousand fans on Facebook, twenty thousand followers on Twitter, and Norris had personally addressed sixteen county and city councils. And Norris's exit? ‘In my view his exit was the correct decision and was handled in a professional and dignified manner.'

Chapter
4
   
THE RINGER?

G
overnment
TD
s and senators had been reading the opinion polls with increasing trepidation. There was no doubt that they were going to take a beating from the electorate. As time progressed, the question became not how many seats they would lose but how many seats could be saved. Fear stalked the offices of the Green Party and Fianna Fáil in Leinster House.

Fine Gael seemed unassailable—and the party leader, Enda Kenny, a racing certainty to be the next Taoiseach—and the Labour Party unbeatable in Dublin. Sinn Féin was showing well and might even beat Fianna Fáil into fourth place. Seats were going to be lost, dynasties destroyed and history changed. The question was: just how bad would it be, and how accurate were the opinion polls?

‘It was like a delayed funeral,' wrote Olivia O'Leary, political analyst with ‘Drivetime', assessing the election for the
RTE
publication
The Week in Politics: Election 2011 and the 31st Dáil
. ‘The government had died a long time ago, but it still had to be buried. Ultimately, most people just wanted the government out. The cold certainty with which they delivered the verdict was breathtaking.'

On Friday 25 February the country voted.

Fine Gael won an unprecedented 76 seats, an increase of 25 seats on the 2007 election. The Labour Party increased its total to 37, up 17. Sinn Féin won 14, an increase of 10. The Socialist Party won 2, having none in the previous Dáil. Similarly the People Before Profit Alliance won 2, having had no previous representation. The number of independent
TD
s increased from 9 to 15.

The Green Party was wiped out. Fianna Fáil was devastated, losing 58 seats, reducing its representation to 20—a historic hammering for any party and a humiliating result for Fianna Fáil.

The changed demographics in the Oireachtas would concentrate the minds of potential presidential candidates as they weighed up seeking support from the newly constituted political parties and from a range of independents and smaller parties.

Fine Gael and the Labour Party would look to the huge public endorsement they had received and would seek to transfer that to their candidate. For Fine Gael it could be the first time to elect a party nominee to the Áras, topping its successes in the local elections and the general election; for the Labour Party it was a chance to follow on the Robinson Presidency. For Fianna Fáil it posed a hard question: would there be any support for a candidate to be elected to the highest office in the land?

The presidential race had vanished from view in the media. The October election might seem a long way off, but away from the public gaze potential candidates were conscious of the time limits for winning a nomination. There were a lot of dominoes to be put in place, and summer would be a political vacuum as the Oireachtas shut down and councillors too went on annual holidays.

To win a nomination to be on the presidential election ballot there were three routes. A potential candidate could nominate themselves, but only if they were a former President and had served only one term of office: two terms and you were disqualified. In theory Mary Robinson was in the frame for the 2011 race, but she let it be known that she was not going to contest the election. However, it does not rule her out from qualifying as a candidate in a future presidential election.

The traditional route for candidates is as political party nominees. This requires the support of twenty members of the Oireachtas—less than 10 per cent of the total number of
TD
s and senators. However, the political parties had a history of selecting a single candidate to represent them, nominating from their own ranks and then closing those ranks. The number of independents and small parties had never reached a critical mass or likely agreement on a representative candidate, but the 2011 general election opened that possibility for the first time.

Finally, a candidate could follow the path pioneered successfully fourteen years earlier by Dana and by Derek Nally and seek a nomination from four of the country's county or city councils.

Again, the same rules were likely to be applied by members of the major political parties, where they would be whipped in to support their own candidates, block others or abstain. A free vote would be the ideal for any non-party candidate seeking this route, but that was unlikely. If a political party had decided to nominate a party candidate it would use its parliamentary party to give the candidate that authority and then whip members to dissent or at least to abstain and exclude any other possible candidate, thereby reducing the number of candidates on the ballot paper.

Time was ticking away on the political calendar, and May was going to be a crucial month. It was an ideal time for testing the waters of public opinion and for anyone who was going to commit themselves, allowing them to make initial contacts before the summer hiatus and ideally positioning them for formal nominations in the autumn.

 

On Sunday 1 May, Nick Webb, the new business editor of the
Sunday Independent
, who had succeeded former senator Shane Ross, a newly elected independent
TD
, would kick-start a month of media coverage of the Presidency. He announced that the entrepreneur and ‘Dragons' Den' television presenter Seán Gallagher was ‘to blow open the race for the Park by standing for President.'

Gallagher was a joint founder of Smarthomes, which provided wiring and equipment for new houses. At its zenith it had a staff of seventy and a turnover of more than €10 million a year. Gallagher had left the business with the downturn in the economy and joined the hit
RTE
programme with Sarah Newman of Needahotel, Bobby Kerr of Insomnia, Niall O'Farrell of Black Tie and the radio show host and media trainer Gavin Duffy.

The news pages carried a brief reference to the emergence of the new candidate, saying Gallagher hadn't declared but had claimed the backing of the independent senator and former supermarket magnate Feargal Quinn.

On his web site Gallagher said he was giving serious consideration to the consistent calls, from people in business, community organisations and disability groups, ‘to offer myself as an independent candidate with a clear understanding of what is needed to help rebuild our community.'

A former member of Fianna Fáil's Ard-Chomhairle and its youth wing, Ógra Fianna Fáil, Gallagher immediately began canvassing Fianna Fáil members of the Oireachtas, seeking their support to secure a nomination. He insisted that he would stand as an independent and wanted only ten Fianna Fáil nominations and would then secure ten more from independent
TD
s and senators so that he could maintain a ‘semi-detached' arrangement with his former party.

One of those he canvassed was Séamus Kirk, a
TD
for Louth who, as former Ceann Comhairle, was returned automatically in the 2007 general election. But the previous election in 2002 was a completely different story. ‘
HQ
and myself were concerned about my polling,' recalled Kirk. Shockingly, he was going to lose his seat despite his years of honest service to the constituency, according to the pollsters. Kirk recalled:

A
REDC
opinion poll commissioned by the
Drogheda Independent
had the Fianna Fáil minister Dermot Ahern topping the poll at 26 per cent, Arthur Morgan of Sinn Féin at 16, Mairead McGuinness of Fine Gael at 14, her party colleague and sitting
TD
Fergus O'Dowd at 13, and Séamus Kirk trailing at 9, fifth in a four-seat constituency.

Kevin Mulligan in the
Drogheda Independent
wrote an election analysis of the success of Kirk and his team's efforts.

But with Gallagher in charge, Kirk had exceeded all expectations. His seat had been considered lost, but he returned with 10,190 first-preference votes and topped the poll—exceeding the vote for his party colleague Dermot Ahern, Minister for Foreign Affairs, by 170 votes. Fianna Fáil, against expectations, had scooped up more than 42 per cent of the first-preference vote in the Wee County. As Kirk recalled in the run-up to the presidential election,

 

On 9 May, Fingal County Council (north Co. Dublin) was the first council to pledge its support for a candidate. David Norris had previously written to every local authority asking to address them and seeking their support, and he was

But on the same day the election process was given a legal clarification. Malcolm Byrne of Gorey, a Fianna Fáil member of Wexford County Council, proposed nominating Norris. However, the motion was quashed after the county secretary, Niall McDonnell, informed the chamber that the council could not pass a resolution nominating a candidate until the election order was made in September, before the November election. Co. Wexford would have been the first to vote on a nomination otherwise.

So while candidates would canvass, and in some cases address, local authorities, the formal nomination could not be given, whatever verbal assurances and pledges were made, until September. Councils could only pledge support for a nomination, and a formal nomination could only be made once the minister signed the order for the election.

The Fianna Fáil leader, Micheál Martin, said it was important that there be a ‘new way to do politics' and confirmed that the parliamentary party would make a ‘definitive party position on the nomination' the following month.

Fine Gael had instructed its councillors throughout the country—in many cases they held the balance of power on local authorities—not to vote for the nomination of any independent candidate. Councillor Paddy Belton of Longford County Council spoke openly to the media about the ban imposed on him by Fine Gael head office. Norris had asked to address the council, and the council agreed; but before his arrival the Fine Gael group had contacted the party's head office seeking advice.

‘We got word from headquarters,' according to Belton, a farmer from Kenagh, about five miles outside the county town. ‘The instruction we got was to oppose him if it was proposed for Longford local authority to support him.' Belton said he told Norris of the instruction they had received after Norris had addressed the meeting. Norris asked if they would consider abstaining. ‘No,' said Belton, ‘I said this was instructions from
HQ
.'

In Lower Mount Street, Micheál Martin took a different approach from that of his opposite number in Upper Mount Street, saying he would allow a free vote for Fianna Fáil councillors on nominations for the Áras.

Fianna Fáil also distanced itself from the former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. Reading between the lines, it was clear there was no nomination available for him. ‘I don't think that's something on the agenda at all,' said Micheál Martin firmly.

Fianna Fáil now had three options: to nominate its own party member as candidate; to offer support to an independent, such as Gallagher, who had already begun contacting Fianna Fáil members of the Oireachtas; or, radically, to set a precedent for the party by not running a candidate. Were the party to decide not to run a candidate it would be the first time since 1938 that it did not put forward a candidate, and in that instance Dr Douglas Hyde became the first President of Ireland in an uncontested election.