Presidential nominations ‘too easy’

IT SHOULD be made more difficult for candidates to be nominated for presidential election, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told the Dáil yesterday.

Despite widespread calls for the presidential nominations process to be simplified, Mr Ahern said he saw no problem with the current system, which requires a prospective candidate to receive 20 Oireachtas or four county council nominations.

His comments fly in the face of recommendations put forward by the all-party committee on the Constitution, which found nomination procedures should be made easier to encourage more participation.