Dana may enter race for presidency

DANA may be busy putting showbiz hopefuls through their paces on the All Ireland Talent Show but she hasn’t ruled out going before the country’s toughest judging panel herself.

The Eurovision winner and former MEP revealed she was open to the idea of presenting her case to the electorate once again by running as a candidate in the presidential election later this year.

“I never say never,” the 59-year-old singer said. “I said I’d never be a singer and I became one, I said I’d never go into politics and I did, so I don’t say never any more.”

No candidates for the successor to Mary McAleese have been formally declared although Barnardo’s chief executive Fergus Finlay, and Senator David Norris, have stated their intentions to seek nominations while Bertie Ahern has yet to admit the door to the Áras is closed to him.

But while her last electoral outings suggest she hasn’t got a prayer of becoming the newest resident of the Phoenix Park, the pro-life entertainer who is big in the world of Catholic TV, refused to be dispirited by previous failures.

She told RTÉ’s Miriam O’Callaghan how much she enjoyed campaigning in the 1997 presidential election. Dana came third in a field of five candidates in 1997, losing to Mary McAleese but coming ahead of Adi Roche.

She is currently mentoring contestants from the North in the RTÉ talent competition.