Former EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness has emerged as the Fine Gael frontrunner in the race for the Áras as the Coalition parties move to block Conor McGregor’s attempt to gain a nomination for the Presidential elections.
With Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews being backed by his party hierarchy, senior Government sources last night said they are confident McGregor will not be able to secure a nomination.
In order to contest the Presidential elections, candidates must secure the backing of at least 20 Oireachtas members or four local authorities. But one senior minister confidently told Extra.ie: ‘I can assure you now, Conor McGregor will not be standing for the Presidency this year. We will stop it.’
Senior figures in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael said the parties, aware of the threat of a potential presidential tilt by McGregor – who was found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman at a Dublin hotel last year – will soon have their candidates in the field.
In a surprise development, Extra.ie has learned Ms McGuinness is now the favoured candidate among Fine Gael’s leadership.
Senior Fine Gael sources said Ms McGuinness will be supported, even though party heavyweights such as former ministers Frances Fitzgerald and Heather Humphreys and MEP Seán Kelly are likely to seek a nomination.
Mairead McGuinness. Credit: RollingNews.ie
‘WE WILL STOP IT’
Fine Gael leader Simon Harris has instructed his Executive Council to begin the process of selecting a presidential candidate. Extra.ie recently revealed that Barry Andrews is the favourite to get the nod from Fianna Fáil, which has not fielded a presidential candidate for 20 years.
Mr Andrews’ fellow party MEPs, Billy Kelleher and Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, are also thought to have support in Fianna Fáil.
Cabinet sources said McGregor – who criticised the country’s leaders when he was given a platform in the White House after meeting with US president Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk in the Oval Office on St Patrick’s Day – will find it extremely difficult to secure a nomination to contest the Presidential elections. One Cabinet source said that neither of the routes open to McGregor – winning the backing of enough county councils or non-aligned Oireachtas members – is ‘easy’.
There is also no appetite in the Coalition parties for a ‘joint candidate’.
A Cabinet source said: ‘Some people think Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael should have one candidate between them, [but] I don’t think that’s going to happen. Certainly, no one’s spoken to me about it. ‘I can see the logic; if you run one candidate, the center will hold. You find a person who’s acceptable to middle Ireland, and let everybody back them.
‘A little bit like when Fine Gael backed Fianna Fáil President Mary McAleese for re-election,’ they said. ‘The other school of thought is that it’s a PRSTV [electoral system of proportional representation with a single transferable vote] selection.
Barry Andrews. Credit: RollingNews.ie
‘DIFFERENT KETTLE OF FISH’
‘So, actually, you are better off to have a candidate in the race, one who has an ability to potentially transfer to the other.
‘We’re not saying a pact, but the transfer pattern we’ve seen in recent elections is encouraging.’
And both parties said they will take whatever steps they can to block McGregor’s Áras bid. One minister told Extra.ie: ‘In the past, politicians may have said we’re not going to vote for an Independent [presidential] candidate, but actually have also said: “You know, we won’t vote against you, because of democracy.” But McGregor is a different kettle of fish altogether.
‘Either four councils have to nominate you or 20 Oireachtas members have to sign your nomination papers; what 20 Oireachtas politicians are going to nominate McGregor?’
The minister continued: ‘And then you have to get a majority on those councils. Will it be possible for McGregor to secure that? It’s very doubtful. Don’t forget, of the 949 council seats in Ireland, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael hold 503 seats.
‘And if Sinn Féin have a candidate, and I know they’re less virulently against McGregor, they have 102. Either way, we can’t see Sinn Féin being whipped behind McGregor.’
‘VERY DISCIPLINED’
The source added: ‘There will be no leakage from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, who will not only be 100% behind their own candidates, they will be very disciplined.’
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were concerned about the recent Seanad elections, in which there was a breakdown in discipline among some councillors who gave their preferences to non-party candidates.
Both Government parties see the upcoming presidential nominations as a test of a new clampdown on ‘leakage’. One source said: ‘Both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were very unhappy with councillors transfers going to other parties during the Seanad elections.
'For instance, Aontú got a seat in the Seanad; that could only have happened with people doing side deals. We are coming down like a ton of bricks on that. Our councillors will fall in line this time.’
Robert F. Kennedy Jr with Conor McGregor. Credit: Secretary Kennedy/X
During his much-publicised visit to Washington this week, McGregor also met with the US secretary of state for health, Robert F Kennedy Jr, and defence chief Pete Hegseth. But one minister suggested that there might be a financial motive for the former MMA fighter’s foray into politics.
They told Extra.ie: ‘The McGregor thing… I know there’s huge interest in it, but what we’re actually doing here, with all the greatest respect to politicians and media, all we’re doing here is promoting his business interests by giving him free publicity. I just can’t see how he becomes a candidate. Our rules will stop him.
‘OUR COUNCILLORS WILL FALL IN LINE’
‘The Oireachtas nomination route is 100% blocked for him. A man found liable for sexual assault on a young woman is not going to secure 20 Oireachtas backers.
‘Some might see the councils’ route as more likely, with McGregor’s backers putting pressure on them for reasons of facilitating democracy. But we don’t see that as possible either,’ they said. ‘And what council then wants to be one of the four who nominates this person, with the reputation he has?
‘Any pro-McGregor Independent has some task ahead of them to convince a council to humiliate their town or county,’ they said.
'Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael control most of the councils anyway,’ the source added. ‘You take the four local Dublin local authorities this year, Fine Gael will have the chain of office in three of them. So that indicates control of them, for instance.’
* This article was originally published on Extra.ie.
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