Presidential election: 'If more prospective candidates reached out, it could have been a different result'

On Saturday’s Six One News, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald featured in a coveted segment.

She effectively provided the voice-over commentary at the precise moment when our new President-elect Catherine Connolly arrived at Dublin Castle to await the official announcement of her election as Uachtarán na hÉireann.

As this happened, McDonald was asked about the record number of spoiled ballots in the election, and she had a very clear idea where the blame lay.

McDonald said this was a reflection of “people who are angry with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael for blocking candidates that they wish to see on the ballot sheet”.

She might want to take a closer look at the actions of her own party in this regard.

A survey of local authorities where Sinn Féin has representation reveals some interesting results.

In eight councils; Dublin City, Cork City, Cork County, Fingal, South Dublin, Monaghan, Leitrim, and Wicklow, its party councillors voted against nominating any candidate to contest the presidency.

In Meath County Council, where Gareth Sheridan failed by a single vote to secure a nomination, they abstained.

In Waterford and Tipperary, they split, with some voting for, some against, and some abstentions.

In five councils; Louth, Wexford, Westmeath, Offaly and Mayo, Sinn Féin councillors voted in favour of nominating a candidate.

There were also four councils where no nomination was made, including by Sinn Féin councillors, to trigger a vote. These were Clare, Roscommon, Galway City and Kildare.

It would probably be unfair to call this “blocking” a nomination, but it’s hardly a full-throated endorsement of a nomination either.

In Fine Gael’s case, Mary Lou McDonald’s criticism is justified.

The party openly imposed a whip on its councillors, meaning that voting to nominate a candidate in a council meeting, or even abstaining in the vote, could lead to political ostracization and even potentially expulsion from the party.

I have been public in my criticism of this decision. However, Fianna Fáil did not do this, and to pretend that the party did is disingenuous.

It did ask councillors to “do everything they can” to support Jim Gavin in the announcement that a whip would not be imposed.

Perhaps not an ideal phrase to include in this context, but hardly prescriptive in such a manner as would block consideration of candidates.

I did not receive a single phone call or communication from Fianna Fáil HQ or senior party figures to influence my decision; it was entirely at my own discretion.

It is true that Fianna Fáil councillors on some local authorities voted against nominating any candidate. However, on others they did not, and in this regard Sinn Féin are no different from Fianna Fáil.

On my own local authority of Cork County, the majority of Fianna Fáil councillors voted in favour of nominating a candidate.

I voted to nominate the Independent former Lord Mayor of Cork Kieran McCarthy, as I felt that he had the qualifications necessary for consideration by the people in the election.

Where Fianna Fáil councillors decided not to nominate a candidate, this decision was taken by those councillors themselves, and not dictated for them by party HQ. This is a legitimate use of their powers and mandate as elected representatives.

And the reality is, most of the independent candidates seeking nomination simply didn’t reach out to party-affiliated councillors.

In the case of Fine Gael, this turned out to be completely justified, but not for Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin or other parties.

I had a few generic e-mails and LinkedIn requests from some candidates, but that was it.

Seemingly, this wasn’t just me - in fact, the lack of contact from nomination hopefuls was a recurring theme in many of the council debates about nomination which I read as research for this article.

If some of the more prominent prospective candidates had made a personal appeal to party-affiliated councillors over the phone, and not just to the independent councillors, it could well have led to a different result.

I wonder if Mary Lou McDonald will communicate to the councillors of her own party who voted against nominating independent candidates how angry some people are at them, according to her, for blocking the candidates of their choice.

Perhaps the next Sinn Féin Ard Fheis would be an appropriate venue.

Or perhaps the disconnect of the national conversation from what is happening on the ground in local government has caused this to escape her notice, as happens unfortunately all too often.

In any case, there is nothing wrong with Sinn Féin councillors deciding at their own discretion not to nominate a candidate. That’s democracy. But for the Sinn Féin leader to then point the finger of blame at Fianna Fáil councillors for doing exactly the same thing is nothing more than hypocrisy.