Irish Election Results

Opposition could back Gay Byrne, says TD

STEPHEN COLLINS, Political Editor

A SENIOR member of the Fianna Fáil front bench has suggested broadcaster Gay Byrne could be nominated for the presidency by a cross section of Opposition TDs and Senators.

Fianna Fáil spokesman on public expenditure and reform Seán Fleming said yesterday Mr Byrne would be an excellent candidate.

He said his party could be part of a group of TDs and Senators who could sign Mr Byrne’s nomination papers.

Mr Fleming said that between the Opposition parties and Independent TDs and Senators, there were about 75 members of the Oireachtas who had not nominated a presidential candidate to date.

“The two Government parties have nominated their candidate but nobody has been nominated by the Opposition parties and Independents,” Mr Fleming told The Irish Times.

He suggested that Fianna Fáil could join with others to nominate Mr Byrne. “If that happened we might not feel inclined to run against him,” added Mr Fleming.

He said Mr Byrne could quite easily get 20 members of the Oireachtas to nominate him on a non-party basis.

“There is great goodwill towards Gay and I believe a majority of people would be very comfortable with him as president,” said Mr Fleming.

Mr Byrne has left open the possibility of running for the presidency but added it would require considerable public persuasion for him to do so.

At the weekend the 77-year-old broadcaster again expressed his surprise that he had topped a poll of presidential election candidates conducted by radio station 4FM, even though his name wasn’t among the four put forward.

“My name wasn’t even mentioned but the results of the poll showed I was favourite over the other four. I had 46 per cent approval rating and the next nearest one was about 16 per cent. I am flattered, it is a huge compliment,” he said.

Asked if this level of public support would prompt him to enter the race, he replied: “If somebody can convince me that the mass of the Irish people are clamouring for Gay to be president, I would have to listen to the clamour”.

However, he also said the role entailed a “a huge disruption to someone’s life” and that “until somebody can convince me that there is some significance in what is going on, I tend to walk away from it”.

Mr Byrne added be believed there was a view among the people that David Norris was dumped out of the presidential race “through underhand means”.

Socialist Appeal - Irish election results

Ireann since 1932 until... today. Although only around a third of seats have been announced it is clear that FF are destined to come in third place not far ahead of SF. Fine Gael will become the biggest party for the first time although they will still fall short of an overall majority. Labour however has made the biggest strides forward with around 20% of first preference votes. This is double what the party achieved in 2007.

Together with some successes for well known left candidates the Labour vote represents a significant shift to the left among the working class. The situation is more pronounced in Dublin where Labour came out as the biggest party. This represents the political effect of the economic crisis and the movements of the working class over the last two years. The impasse of capitalism internationally is first and foremost a crisis of the bourgeois and their political representatives. “The Soldiers of Destiny” are in a cul de sac.

The most likely outcome of the election will be a FG/Labour coalition. Paddy Power are offering odds of 1/33 on an alliance between the two parties. But that does not need to be the outcome.

Parliamentary election results in Ireland, 1918-92, Irish elections to parliaments and parliamentary assemblies at Westminster, Belfast, Dublin, Strasbourg

Northern Ireland Yearbook 2005, A Comprehensive Reference Guide to the Political, Economic and Social Life of Northern Ireland

Ireland at the polls, 1981, 1982, and 1987, a study of four general elections

Politics in the Republic of Ireland

Irish voters decide, voting behaviour in elections and referendums since 1918