Ireland South MEP Seán Kelly indicates presidency bid

Ireland South MEP Sean Kelly has given a strong indication that he intends to seek the Fine Gael nomination to run in autumn’s presidential election.

Mr Kelly, who has been a Fine Gael Member of the European Parliament for Ireland South since 2009, told reporters in Brussels that while he has yet to make a decision, he had recently discussed the matter with Tánaiste Simon Harris and Fine Gael general secretary John Carroll.

The party wanted to have a competition for the nomination, he said.

“Democracies thrive on elections. Without elections, you cannot have democracies,” he said.

“So I think the members like to be able to exercise their franchise whatever is coming up, even if the chair of the local cuman.” 

A native of Kilcummin, Co Kerry, Mr Kelly was GAA president between 2003 to 2006 and during his term he championed the Rule 42 amendment which opened the gates of Croke Park to ‘foreign games’.

The 73-year-old said the length of the seven-year term might deter him from seeking the nomination, quoting John B Keane, who said that for a Kerryman, any day out of Kerry was a day wasted.

On the plus side, he said, Áras an Uachtaráin was very convenient for Croke Park.

Mr Kelly said he intended to decide by Friday, July 18, the party’s internal deadline for declarations of intention to seek a nomination.

In April, former EU commissioner and Fine Gael MEP Mairead McGuinness told RTÉ's Upfront with Katie Hannon that she intended to make a decision on whether she would seek the Fine Gael nomination "by May".

Ms McGuinness addressed her remarks at fellow panelist Bertie Ahern, who has long been rumoured to be considering whether to seek the Fianna Fàil nomination.

"I’m trying to see the whites of Bertie's eyes there, but I just can't see them. So if you wink, I’ll wink, Bertie. Is that a deal?” she said.

“I’ll make a decision by May of this year.” 

The Echo asked Ms McGuinness for comment.

A presidential election must take place in the 60 days before President Higgins’s second and constitutionally-mandated final term ends on November 11.

Irish citizens over the age of 35 are eligible to run for president but must be nominated by either at least four local authorities or at least 20 Oireachtas members.

Former presidents who have served a single term can also nominate themselves, meaning that - in theory - former president Mary Robinson, who served one term, could nominate herself, if she so wished. The other living former president, Mary McAleese, served the maximum two terms.

So far, nobody has been nominated to contest the presidential election, but mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor and former presidential candidate and businessman Peter Casey have both said they intend to run.