Gareth Sheridan faces uphill battle in presidential race — everyone seems to accept this but him
Gareth Sheridan at the Tullamore Show with his wife Heidi and daughter Róe, canvassing Susan Leonard from Pettigo, Co Donegal as he officially confirmed his intention to contest the forthcoming Presidential election in October. Picture: Alf Harvey
Independent presidential hopeful Gareth Sheridan is not happy with some of the “hysterical headlines” about him since he announced his intention to seek office last Sunday.
He argued he wants people to “make your judgments based on context and getting to know me”, not through “hysterical headlines”.
What are the headlines he speaks of?
“I think my immediate persona that we're seeing online now is the multi-millionaire tycoon, ego maniac,” Sheridan told reporters in the Constitution Room in The Shelbourne Hotel.
“I think it's not really fitting of the person I am. I don't think I've ever used the word tycoon in a sentence, so I thought it was an interesting description."
Except he has used the word “tycoon” in a sentence. He had used it 10 minutes previously.
He argued that Article 45 of the Constitution stated, “in simple terms, through your job, you should be able to afford to have a life here”. This, he said, would mean the president could tackle the Government on housing.
“It's taking a multi-millionaire pharma tycoon to now bring this to people's attention,” Sheridan said, completely unprompted.
It was a simple mistake, but it underlines the naivety at the heart of his campaign.
At 35, Gareth Sheridan will be the youngest candidate to ever contest the presidential election if he gets on the ballot paper.
He is “confident” he has a pathway to a nomination, arguing that he has as proposers and seconders at least four councillors.
But, as one hopeful pointed out this week, that is the easy part. The hard part is getting the whole council to support your bid.
The naivety was further underlined by Sheridan’s unprompted statement that there was a concerted “attack on his character” by people in his former business partner Sean Gallagher’s circle.
He argued that his campaign team has received “copy and paste” queries on some matters, suggesting that journalists had been leaked negative stories about him.
It was an intervention that he could end up regretting.
During the press conference, it became clear that he is relying on several key phrases to get him through his points.
This includes, “the nurses holding up signs in Australia asking to come home” and “grandparents continuing to see their grandkids grow up over an iPad screen”.
They are valid points and, as he correctly said “housing is an anchor for every issue we're facing in the country today”.
But, considering he is only in the race since Sunday, these catchphrases have been trotted out so often they are already starting to sound tired.
And, as he admitted himself, he is not going to “pick up a hammer” and head to the buildings sites if he is president.
It was also clear that Sheridan was daunted walking into the Constitution Room to face the media.
As the hour-long press conference wore on, he became more confident and did, to his credit, deal with every question he was thrown in a straightforward manner.
This included topics ranging from his person net worth ($15.5m), the car he drives (a used 2021 Mercedes hybrid) and whether he had any convictions (none).
He also addressed the range of other scandals that have appeared in the media this week. This ranged from his mother’s objections to housing, a $25,000 fine and links to an Israeli Defence Forces Hospital.
As polished as he is, he faces an uphill battle. Everyone appears to accept this but him.
The race was blown open by news Mairead McGuinness was pulling out.
But whether it is blown wide open enough to allow him to update his LinkedIn bio from tycoon to president remains to be seen.
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