Kenny tells councillors not to back Dana

DANA Rosemary Scallon’s presidential bid hit the rocks again last night as Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny told party members in Longford not to back her.

The directive is likely to cause a row within Fine Gael in Longford as several councillors had intended supporting her.

Meanwhile, Dana will today begin canvassing Oireachtas members in a final push to secure a presidential nomination.

She remains the last potential challenger to President Mary McAleese, who last week saw both the Green Party’s Eamon Ryan and Labour’s Michael D Higgins withdraw from the contest.

Following both withdrawals, the Dana camp is hopeful it can achieve the required 20 nominations from TDs and Senators in order to challenge President Mary McAleese.

Dana will meanwhile also continue her efforts to convince four county councils to nominate her by travelling to Tralee today for a meeting of Kerry County Council.

Kilkenny County Councils has also been asked to consider Dana’s nomination when they meet today, but may decide not to discuss the matter until a later date.

Already councils in Meath, Dublin, Mayo, Wicklow and Sligo have been scratched from Dana’s list of possible backers in the past week. However, up to 12 councils including Donegal, Cork, Limerick, Wexford, Waterford, Offaly and Leitrim are scheduled to meet next Monday - three days before the October 1 deadline for nominations closes.

Dana’s adviser and brother John Brown last night said efforts would continue to secure nominations from the 29 remaining councils.

“We will keep going until there are just three councils left before we stop,” he said.

Complaining that Dana had been effectively “shut out” from securing council nominations by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, Mr Brown said Dana’s team would this morning begin approaching Oireachtas members in a bid to secure nominations.

“Dana is now going to actively look at the Oireachtas as well as the county councils where it’s all down to whether councillors have the bravery to step out against what effectively is a dictate from above,” he said.