The woman who brought the Special Olympics to Ireland in 2003 has announced her intention to run as an independent candidate in the forthcoming Irish presidential election.

Mary Davis, the current managing director of Special Olympics Europe and Eurasia, has wrote to local authorities throughout Ireland asking for their support.

Election legislation means she will require either the support of four county councils or 20 members of the Oireachtas in order to qualify for candidacy.

Davis acted as the CEO of the 2003 Special Olympics in Dublin and went on to serve as the CEO of Special Olympics Ireland. In 2004 she was appointed to the Council of State by the current President, Mary McAleese.

In the running is also Independent Senator David Norris who has already launched his campaign and has begun seeking nominations from local authorities, as well as TDS and Senators.

The former business program Dragon’s Den judge, Sean Gallagher also announced his bid for election on the popular Late Late chat show recently.

There is mounting speculation as to whether the former Taoiseach John Bruton will run for Fine Gael. Also another independent candidate and the former president of the European Parliament, Pat Cox has expressed interest.

Competing for the Labour Party endorsement are former TD  Michael D Higgins, former PR handler  Fergus Finlay and former senator Kathleen O'Meara.

Fianna Fail have yet to decide whether or not to run a candidate.
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