Billy Kelleher says he would have won presidency

James Cox

Cork MEP Billy Kelleher has said he would have won the presidency if he had been selected ahead of Jim Gavin for the Fianna Fáil nomination.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin and deputy leader Jack Chambers had heavily backed Mr Gavin, but he withdrew three weeks before the vote after it emerged he owed €3,300 to a former tenant in overpaid rent.

Mr Kelleher also sought the nomination, and had the backing of a number of senior party figures, however, Mr Martin's backing of Mr Gavin helped push the Dublin football manager over the line.

In an interview with the Irish Examiner, Mr Kelleher said he is confident he could have beaten both President Catherine Connolly and Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys.

“I believe that I would be reflective of a modern Ireland, and I think that a lot of people would have engaged with me and supported me in that,” Mr Kelleher said.

“Unfortunately, let’s be honest, we ended up in a situation where, towards the end, it was basically a one-horse race. The public, because of what happened, they didn’t have enough choice.”

He also praised President Connolly and wished her well in Áras an Uachtaráin.

“I’m a fair-minded person. You have to judge a person over a period of time. She’s started out very well,” he said, referring to her recent meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

 “I’m quite sure that she will be a fine president.”

He said Irish-US relations were at a dangerous point as the Trump administration pursues increasingly isolationist policies.

Mr Kelleher also referred to the debate around a United Ireland.

“We reference America’s relationship with Europe, I think the Irish President will be a critically important role that could be played there to maintain links between Ireland and the United States. It would have been something that I would have been really looking forward to.

“We do have to start broadening out that debate around what a new Ireland looks like, in terms of the Good Friday Agreement, the respect for those in the North who would like to reside in a United Ireland.

“They’re as entitled to articulate that position as a person in the North who’d like to reside in the UK.”