Kelleher: Party needs to pick presidential candidate

Fianna Fáil need to meet “urgently” to discuss the forthcoming presidential election, one of their party members has said.

Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher has said a meeting of his party’s parliamentary party should be convened to discuss the matter adding that his party should have a candidate running in the election.

Kelleher, an MEP for Ireland South, added that without a meeting convened soon, Fianna Fáil TDs, senators and MEPs will not meet in person until mid-September at the earliest.

He said: “To my mind, this is too late in the day for the people who will ultimately be tasked with selecting a party candidate to meet to discuss the issue. I contacted the Cathaoirleach of the Parliamentary Party, Brendan Smith TD asking him to convene a meeting to discuss this most critical of issues.

“In my opinion, Fianna Fáil, the largest party in the Dáil, the Seanad and in local government, should be actively involved in either running its own candidate or facilitating a candidate that represents our values and beliefs as a political movement,” concluded Kelleher.

Meanwhile Fine Gael has reopened nominations for its presidential candidate after a meeting of its executive council on Monday evening. The meeting came after the shock announcement from Mairead McGuinness last week that she was withdrawing her name from the race, citing medical advice. Sinn Féin have yet to pick or endorse a candidate to be Ireland's 10th Uachtarán na hÉireann.

Last month, Independent TD Catherine Connolly launched her bid for the Áras and has support from left-leaning parties like the Social Democrats, People Before Profit, the Labour Party and a number of independents. She has received the 20 nominations from Oireachtas members needed to stand and is the only candidate officially in the race at the moment.

Other people who have expressed an interest in running are businessman Gareth Sheridan while ‘Riverdance’ star Michael Flatley has not ruled himself and Peter Casey, who ran in 2018, has declared an interest in running again. Nick Delehanty, a candidate in last year’s local election and general election has also declared he's running. Former MMA fighter Conor McGregor has also spoken about running for the presidency but has yet make a formal announcement.