Vincent Browne says he admires courage of Cork presidential hopeful Billy Kelleher    

Veteran journalist and broadcaster Vincent Browne has spoken of his admiration for Ireland South MEP Billy Kelleher, who is currently seeking the Fianna Fáil nomination for next month’s presidential election.

Mr Browne told The Echo that Mr Kelleher had shown courage on the issues of abortion and marriage equality, and his political views were well known, unlike those of his rival for the nomination, former Dublin football manager Jim Gavin.

The 71 members of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party are due to meet on Tuesday, when they will vote to select the party’s candidate.

Mr Gavin has been endorsed by Taoiseach Micheál Martin and by all of the Fianna Fáil front bench, while his Cork rival is very much the underdog.

On Tuesday afternoon, Mr Browne took to social media to offer his opinion on the contest for the Fianna Fáil nomination.

Bizarre

“There is something bizarre that Fianna Fáil TDs etc are being asked to vote for Jim Gavin as the party’s nominee for the presidency, without knowing [anything on where he stands on crucial issues],” he wrote on X.

“They do know what Billy Kelleher stands for, so why not go with him?”

Mr Browne subsequently told The Echo that while Mr Kelleher’s politics have been known for more than three decades, Mr Gavin’s are completely unknown.

“It seems to me ridiculous that Fianna Fáil TDs should be asked to vote on whether Jim Gavin is to be the candidate without knowing anything about him, what he thinks, what his politics are. I don’t mean party politics, but what his priorities are in politics, et cetera,” he said.

Mr Browne was asked whether it could be argued that — for the presidency — politics don’t matter because presidents are supposed to be above politics.

“Party politics don’t matter and hopefully presidents are above party politics, but you can’t get away from the fact they are in politics,” he replied.

“Particularly the last several people who have been president, they have expressed their views on important issues, and if Jim Gavin is going to do that, we should know about his views, or the TDs should know.”

Hesitant

Asked whether he had any views on whether Billy Kelleher was a suitable candidate for the presidency, Mr Browne initially was hesitant about offering an opinion.

“I don’t want to get involved in a Fianna Fáil internal contest, but, Billy, I admire Billy because, for instance, he took the lead in Fianna Fáil on the abortion referendum and, I think, on the same-sex [marriage] referendum.

“That required courage, because Fianna Fáil is, essentially, a conservative party, and I think that required courage, and he did it.”

The presidential election will be held on Friday, October 24.

To be eligible to run, a candidate must be an Irish citizen over the age of 35 and secure the nomination of either 20 Oireachtas members or four local authorities.

So far, Independent Galway West TD Catherine Connolly has secured the backing of Labour, the Social Democrats, People Before Profit-Solidarity, and a range of Independents.

Heather Humphreys was confirmed on Tuesday as the Fine Gael candidate.

Sinn Féin has yet to announce whether it will support Ms Connolly or run its own candidate.

Local authorities are expected to meet in the coming weeks to decide whether to nominate candidates.