Galway County Council’s bar set higher for Áras hopefuls
Councillors changed the rules governing the nomination process at this month’s meeting of Galway County Council.
Under the revised rules, potential presidential candidates must secure the support of at least 10% of elected members – rounded up to four councillors – before they can attend and present at a special council meeting convened to consider nominations.
Only candidates who attend the meeting in person will be eligible for nomination by the council.
County councils retain the reserved power to decide whether to nominate a presidential candidate or to nominate no one at all.
At this month’s meeting. Independent Cllr Tomas Welby, who put forward the original motion, said the timeframe for nominations is too short and he argued that meetings across the country should be staggered across different days.
However, he acknowledged that this is an issue that must be addressed at a national level, as candidates seeking local authority backing must crisscross the country in record time to secure the coveted nominations, with councils meeting simultaneously in different counties.
Independent Ireland Cllr Shaun Cunniffe claimed that there were “glaring problems with exclusion”.
And he argued that the real issue lies with “people who didn’t come into the chamber,” adding that voting along party lines was “shameful.”
There has to be a mechanism to safeguard the integrity of the office
Cllr Karey McHugh Farag (Ind) said that while the process should be made “as fair and open as possible,” she criticised those who used the platform “as a soapbox to spout rhetoric and dangerous ideologies".
“There has to be a mechanism to safeguard the integrity of the office,” she said.
“It is a free-for-all and we are seeing more dangerous ideologies coming to the fore. We have to protect that.”
Fianna Fáil Cllr Michael Connolly said the candidates who appeared before councillors were not suitable for the role of president and lacked community and political experience.
Comhairleoir Tomás Ó Curraoín (RepSF) reiterated that “there are 32 counties in Ireland” and said, “we have no country until we get our teddy bear’s head back”.
Only a fraction of the Presidential hopefuls seeking council nominations appeared in County Hall during last year’s campaign, leaving councillors frustrated at what several described as a disrespectful process.
Of the 30 potential candidates who put their names forward, just five attended in person to make their case.
Eight individuals had confirmed attendance for the September meeting of Galway County Council, but only five appeared on the day – Aidan Harrington, Séana Kerr, Gearoid O’Dubhthaigh, Lucy-Ann O’Leary and Gerben (Geradus) Uunk – and not one of them ultimately made it onto the ballot paper.
These new changes to the nomination process required an amendment to Standing Orders, which Galway County Council duly passed at this month’s meeting.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.