Ahern is Áras hopeful for FF backers

BERTIE AHERN remains the favoured candidate for the presidency among Fianna Fáil supporters but bookies still rank his party colleague Brian Crowley as second favourite for the post that comes up for election later this year.

A RED C poll of more than 1,000 adults has independent Senator David Norris as the choice of 27% of voters for the next resident of Áras an Uachtaráin, more than twice the numbers backing next best, Fine Gael MEP Mairead McGuinness on 13%.

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who announced a fortnight ago he will not be seeking re-election in his Dublin Central constituency, picked up the support of 12%, ahead of the 11% for Galway West Labour Party TD Michael D Higgins who has already expressed his interest in the party’s nomination for the presidency.

Just behind these two, on 10%, were Mr Crowley, the Fianna Fáil Munster MEP from Co Cork, and Fergus Finlay, chief executive of Barnardos and a former Labour official who is also seeking the party’s backing.

Some 13% of those polled said they would not vote for any of the six named candidates, and 5% said they would not vote.

Among FF supporters, the preference for Mr Ahern was 33%, compared to 22% who backed Mr Crowley.

Neither has declared definite intentions to seek the presidency nomination but Mr Ahern hinted at his interest again in a newspaper interview nine days ago.

Party loyalties were not as clear among Labour supporters despite being the only party with declared candidates for a nomination. One-in-three gave their backing to Mr Norris, followed by 22% backing for Mr Higgins and just 14% who said they would vote for Mr Finlay.

Mairead McGuinness, the only Fine Gael name offered as a choice in the RED C poll for Paddy Power bookmakers, got 1% fewer votes than Mr Norris among supporters of her party. The Dublin-based senator also got the backing of one-in-four Sinn Féin supporters and almost one-third of those who support none of the four main parties.

Despite his strong showing, however, Mr Norris remains third-favourite with Paddy Power to replace Mary McAleese, at 7-2. He is just slightly behind the 10-3 price for Brian Crowley, who has been at or near the top of the betting for over a year and whose odds were reduced after a €2,000 stake placed last summer.