Nomination-seeking candidates for presidency invited to Waterford

Presidential candidates, who are seeking nominations, have been invited to "state their case" to a special meeting of Waterford City and County Council later this month .

The council last week unanimously accepted the calling of the meeting, following a call by Independent Councillor Joe Kelly: "I think we'll have four or five candidates before us.

“They’ll be given time slots where they can state their case. Some people may be unavoidably indisposed but I’d certainly expect them to make the effort to come,” he told The Irish Times.

Explaining the need for the motion, he said: “The big parties are basically trying to block off the avenues for everybody, in particular the non-aligned candidates.

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“I think they thought it was within their own gift to give the presidency out – a political gift,” he said, adding that potential candidates would be given up to 30 minutes each at the meeting.

Ministerial order

Candidates, with the exception of President Michael D Higgins who is seeking a second term, must get the backing of up to 20 members of the Oireachtas, or or four local authorities to be added to the ballot.

However the candidate won’t be chosen at the meeting itself: “The resolution can’t be out until after the ministerial order is signed, and that effectively narrows the time frame down for any independent candidate,” said Cllr Kelly.

Saying that he did not expect Mr Higgins to come before councillors, Cllr Kelly said he would be very welcome if he decided that he wished to do so at the end-of-month meeting.

Speaking during last week's debate, Fine Gael's Damien Geoghegan said a number of senators " are putting their heads up above the parapet now and looking for votes off of us".

However, they had never previously shown interest in councillors: "They'll get the exact same treatment from me here. There is one notable exception and that's actually Senator Gerard Craughwell, " he said.