Liadh Ní Riada In, Kevin Sharkey Out of Presidential Election

The shape of the upcoming contest for the Irish presidency became clearer over the weekend, with the announcement that Liadh Ní Riada is to be the Sinn Fein candidate.

She joins two of the Dragon’s Den crew, Sean Gallagher and Gavin Duffy, alongside Senator Joan Freeman, among those who will challenge President Michael D. Higgins for the role, in the October presidential election.

Liadh Ní Riada sparked controversy last summer when, speaking during an interview with Hot Press, she said that she was “uncomfortable with the use of the word terrorism” to describe the IRA.

“I don’t think you can have a blanket word like ‘terrorist’ to describe every conflict situation in the world,” she said, "because you’re almost automatically then putting, say, the IRA, for instance, as the one who created this terror, created this conflict.”

The Sinn Féin MEP also said that she disagreed with describing IRA atrocities such as Bloody Friday, Warrington or the Birmingham pub bombings as terrorist attacks. “It was a terrible time of conflict,” she said. “But there is no conflict without a reason.”

The DUP MEP Diane Dodds described the comments as “yet another example of Sinn Féin’s continued glorification of IRA crimes” and a “further insult to innocent victims”.

A number of other candidates have been furiously lobbying county councils around the country in a bid to acquire the four nominations necessary to get on the ballot paper, but there has been little sign of any momentum being generated by the likes of artist Kevin Sharkey, campaigning journalist Gemma O’Doherty, the Donald Trump-loving Sarah Louise Mulligan or musician Jimmy Smyth, who is best known for his stint as leader of The Bogey Boys – who were one of the many ‘nearly’ Irish groups of the early 1980s. Jimmy currently lectures in BIMM.

Indeed, with no support materialising, Kevin Sharkey announced this morning that he was withdrawing from the presidential election, saying that he “no longer wanted to be part of the farce.” He also cited the “corruption” of Ireland’s local authorities as a reason for pulling out, adding that he now supported Gemma O’Doherty’s bid for election.

While announcing his withdrawal, Sharkey also launched his plans for an exhibition of paintings entitled, The Presidential Collection 2018. Among the titles of the paintings are ‘The Power of Corruption’, ‘Crooked Councillors’ and ‘Bribes Are Us’. He also said that he plans to release a single.

“The reason I’ve added (information on the exhibition) to the statement was because that’s what I’ve done since I was aged twelve and a half,” he said. "I’ve been in the media a long time and I know that when you are making an announcement it is a good idea to let people know what you intend to do next.” Mr Sharkey has claimed that he is Ireland's most successful Irish artist in terms of sales.

Meanwhile, a third Dragon’s Den presenter, Peter Casey, has received a nomination from Kerry County Council. The farcical nature of the county council nomination process was underlined when Sinn Fein councillors nominated Gemma O’Doherty and also seconded William Delaney.

Already a number of county councils have decided not to nominate any candidate for the presidential election, narrowing down the possibility of further candidates getting across the line through this route. Among those who will not support any candidate are Dublin City Council; and the county councils in Westmeath, Laois and Offaly. Councillors in Co. Louth also decided not to nominate a candidate, but that was not seen as an irrevocable decision and a further meeting will take place.

That the process is indeed farcical – though perhaps not in the manner suggested by Kevin Sharkey – was underlined by the satirical candidacy of one Bunty Twuntingdon-McFuff, who caused a furore when she spoke to Dublin City Council about her plans to turn Áras an Uachtaráin into a spa, where people could hunt the local deer. She also, in an even more Swiftean touch, made the modest proposal that it would be her policy that the dead could be burned as fuel.