Higgins shrugs off presidential pressure

PRESIDENTIAL front-runner Michael D Higgins has said he feels under no pressure in the election race after broadcaster and recent Áras favourite, Gay Byrne, bowed out of the running.

The former Labour minister is now favourite to win the October 27 election, according to a recent poll.

Mr Byrne said yesterday that he did not have the stomach to contest the election.

But Fianna Fáil has been plunged into a presidential election crisis by Mr Byrne’s decision, as party leader Michael Martin had pledged support for the veteran presenter if he ran.

Party sources last night played down any damage done to Mr Martin’s leadership.

Mr Higgins was campaigning outside Croke Park yesterday. Speaking of Mr Byrne’s weekend decision not to run and last week’s Red C poll which gave the former Labour TD 21% of support, he said: “I don’t really regard it as pressure at all.”

The poll had put Mr Byrne in the lead with 28% support.

Real debate around the office of the presidency would begin after Mr Byrne’s surprise entry and exit in the race, said Mr Higgins. “I thought in the last few days the soundings were suggesting that he [Mr Byrne] wouldn’t run. Of course ,there will be other individuals as well who will come forward [in the race].

“I think he’s a very fine broadcaster with an enormously well deserved reputation. The presidency is a very different thing in a way. As the campaign settles down, people will see.”

Mr Higgins said he had travelled more than 12,000 miles during his campaign trail and was the only candidate with cabinet experience.

Gay Byrne told presenter Claire Byrne on RTÉ radio yesterday that he had been “pestered to death” while he was considering entering the presidential race and he had been “in the middle of a firestorm” with recent media interest.

“It was a completely new scenario for me,” he said. “The people who were going forward, the four declared candidates, are obviously people who really want to be president of Ireland. And that’s a worthy and notable objective.

“They’ve obviously put a great deal of thought into it. It was a totally and completely new concept to me. I never dreamed of being president.”

The former Late Late Show host said he did not know if Mr Martin was disappointed or not when he told the FF leader of his decision on Friday. “He [Mr Martin] simply said ‘that’s your decision and that’s fine and thank you very much’,” said Mr Byrne.

“The race for the presidency is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. And it was going to go on for a long, long time and I didn’t have the stomach for all of that.”

FF last night said Mr Martin continued to have the support of the party after his attempt to persuade Mr Byrne to run failed.

All eyes will now turn to party MEP Brian Crowley, who wants to run but has polled low in the race in party research.

But Mr Crowley did get 13% in the recent Red C poll, coming in joint third place.

FF’s Timmy Dooley, who initiated the approach to Mr Byrne to join the race, dismissed weekend reports that party members were angry with Mr Martin over the failed bid to get the TV host to run.

“There is no issue,” he said. “It was the right thing for Micheál to have a conversation with Gay ahead of the party’s sub-committee meeting on this.

“He [Mr Martin] hasn’t got egg in his face. If he did nothing, it would have been seen as weak and a failure to communicate.”