Dana unlikely to run for president over lack of funds

EUROVISION winner Dana looks unlikely to enter the presidential race after her family said she would struggle to compete with the resources of party-backed candidates.

The former MEP’s family had said that Dana was considering running for the Áras and would decide after holidaying in Los Angeles.

But it is now doubtful that Dana Rosemary Scallon will launch a bid after her backers yesterday said she could not compete with the “war chest” funds of political parties.

Her brother John Browne, who ran her bid for the Áras in 1997, said it would be a number of weeks before she made up her mind about running.

“It’s a process of evaluating it and deciding a position [to take]. Before she makes one, she must be fully informed about what’s going on in the field, like the full implications of the costs and getting the nominations.”

Mr Browne said political parties would use their own internal funds whereas independent candidates had to work hard on getting donations and building up campaign finances.

He said Fine Gael and Labour were already in an strong position running Gay Mitchell and Michael D Higgins.

“They’ve got a war chest of €400,000 or €500,000 each. You’re immediately at a disadvantage. It’s extremely restrictive. In these changing times, where are you going to get the money to compete with them? As David Norris said, they’ve got the keys to the Áras and are not going to let go of them. They can dip into their reserves and get a lot of political donations.”

Dana got the support of five county councils in 1997 but finished third, with over 175,000 first preference votes, behind Mary McAleese and Mary Banotti.

Mr Browne said that Dana’s campaign was mostly self-funded during that campaign.