Mitchell pledges to ‘renew the Republic’

THE next president will be tasked with renewing the Republic and “rescuing it from dereliction”, Fine Gael candidate Gay Mitchell has said.

The danger the state faced was “dereliction of the courage, the idealism, the nobility, the equality, the very heart and soul on which it was founded,” he said.

Speaking at the official launch of his campaign in Dublin yesterday, Mr Mitchell said Ireland now needed “solidarity, belief, direction, confidence, energy, integrity, experience and can-do”.

He said he believed his set of skills could be “put to good use” in the Áras “serving the real welfare of the people”.

The Taoiseach and numerous TDs and senators attended the launch in a bid to demonstrate the party is fully behind the candidate.

Mr Mitchell’s director of elections, TD Charlie Flanagan, said he wanted to “nail the myth” about a lack of enthusiasm within the party for the candidate, saying every member was “working around the clock” for him.

Mr Mitchell said he and his brother, the late Jim Mitchell, had joined Fine Gael mostly because of Declan Costello and Garret FitzGerald. He said he wanted to “rekindle” the late Mr Costello’s philosophy of a “just society” and to promote “real unity in diversity”.

“For some this will sound like soft sentimentality,” he said. “The problem is that we have become too ‘cool’ and lost our sense of awe and wonder.

“A Republic which nurtures a just society is one, in my view, where the principles of rights and responsibilities, and enterprise and social justice are intertwined.”

As an example, he said, “social justice through accessible education and health” could only be provided “if the enterprising spirit is encouraged so as to create the wealth to pay for these services”.

But he stressed: “It is easy to talk of rights and social justice but rights bring with them responsibilities for ourselves and others.”

In terms of proposals, Mr Mitchell suggested that the next president have overall responsibility for the planning of the Easter Rising commemorations.

“I would use my national and international know-how to work with the Government of the day to create a commemoration that is truly inclusive.”

If elected president, he would also use the office to tackle the country’s high rates of suicide — “a horror that stalks this land claiming 600 people a year”.

He said he would also set up a new initiative to help people in other countries, saying 22,000 children were dying every day in the developing world.