Dana ditched as Norris struggles

DANA’s presidential hopes were blown out of the water, while David Norris was left gasping for air by the decision not to let Fianna Fáil Oireachtas members nominate candidates for the Áras.

The messy compromise imposed by an embattled Micheál Martin in order to try and ease mounting tensions over his leadership style and presidential policy shifts will have far reaching repercussions.

While Dana’s late entry into the race meant she would always struggle to get on the ballot paper, Senator Norris had been trying to personally lobby Mr Martin to swing crucial Fianna Fáil support behind his relaunched push for the presidency.

Mr Norris is believed to have up to 15 Oireachtas members rowing in behind him, leaving the senator tantalisingly close to the 20 signature threshold as the clock ticks down to next Wednesday’s deadline.

With left-wing TDs like Joe Higgins supporting him despite stressing they do not agree with the senator on many key economic issues, Norris still has a chance of getting across the starting line.

His entry into the campaign proper would have major implications for current front runner Michael D Higgins, and Sinn Féin’s candidate Martin McGuinness, as Norris is viewed as particularly attractive by left-leaning/independent voters who would normally be more inclined to back Labour or Sinn Féin.

Mr Martin had little option but to push for a ban on FF backing any candidate so as to draw a line under a presidential election stance that has become increasingly embarrassing for him and his party.

In what has amounted to a slow-motion communications car crash, Mr Martin has seen his overtures to chat show host Gay Byrne thrown back in his face. And the one Fianna Fáil candidate who could have delivered a respectable showing for the party, MEP Brian Crowley, withdrew his bid in anger at the way the situation had been allowed to unravel.