Presidential candidates to seek nomination from Kilkenny County Council next week

Kilkenny County Council will hear from a number of presidential hopefuls at a special meeting on Monday.

Around 13 people are said to have contacted the Council hoping to secure a nomination for the race to the Áras.

Candidates will have five minutes to speak to the council before another five minutes are allotted for councillors to pose questions in the session procedure outlined by Senior Executive Officer Margot Hayes at the monthly plenary meeting this week.

Councillors will vote to decide the strongest candidate and this will be followed by another ballot to choose whether to nominate this person or no one at all.

Candidates need to secure the backing of four local authorities to be able to run for president with businessman Gareth Sheridan securing the first of these from Kerry County Council on Monday.

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Labour’s Cllr Seán Ó hArgáin expressed frustration with the process and called for a standardised approach such as candidates needing an endorsement from a councillor before being able to speak saying, “a circus is the accurate representation of this aspect of the constitution.”

Cllr Joe Malone (FF) took a different view saying that everyone should get a chance to put their views across and it was unfair that Fine Gael has forbidden its councillors from voting to nominate independent candidates.

In the aftermath of Conor McGregor officially ending his short-lived campaign, Cllr Malone expressed his relief saying, “I’m glad that Conor McGregor pulled out today,” to which Cllr Eugene McGuiness (IND) added, “only good decision he ever made.”

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