Mick Clifford: Does public service beckon for Gareth Sheridan now he can't run for presidency?

At the start of the summer, Gareth Sheridan waltzed into the public square and announced he wants to be the president. If he had been serious, he would have started much earlier in the year, writes Mick Clifford

Mon, 22 Sep, 2025 - 19:00

Mick Clifford

He came, he campaigned, he failed, but maybe he will return to fail better until he succeeds. Gareth Sheridan fell at the final fence in his bid to get a nomination to run for president.

On one level, he ran a professional campaign, obviously retained some political smarts and threw a few bob into it. All of which is to be commended.

Yet it could also be argued he didn’t show the office he sought commensurate respect. Two months ago, most people in the state didn’t know who he was. For the last decade or so he was living in America, building up a company, making something serious of his life.

And then at the start of the summer, he waltzes into the public square and announces he wants to be the president.

And you are…?

Gareth Sheridan (right) and his wife Heidi at the official launch of his campaign in Dublin last month. This chap was like somebody jumping out of a box with a little bow.

He was in the process of moving back to this country with his young family and it was as if he decided it would be a great homecoming if he landed in the Áras.

It’s hard to remember a serious candidate of his ilk. Sean Gallagher in 2011 was a businessman with a TV profile. Others like Mary Davis and Adi Roche had records of serious public or associated service commitment.

This chap was like somebody jumping out of a box with a little bow. Hey Ireland, my name is Gareth and I’m what you need right now.

His unique selling point was his youth. At 36, he just about qualifies under the age rule.

“Many choose not to vote, feeling disconnected from politics and disenfranchised,” he says in a campaign video. “This is dangerous for our democracy. Having the youngest ever candidate on the presidential ballot would show that younger generations are included and represented.”

Maybe so, but the current incumbent is over 80 and probably one of the most popular public figures among the young.

Certainly, elected politics in the Oireachtas needs more young blood. But playing the baby card while running for president was always a little threadbare.

Beyond that it’s hard to know what exactly he stood for other than being angry at the housing crisis.

His professional campaign ensured him the nomination of two local authorities, which was a fair result for somebody who came from recent obscurity.

His Waterloo was in the big town with all the roundabouts, Tullamore. It was here at the agriculture show he was introduced to the public last August.

And it was Offaly County Council’s decision on Monday to give him the bum’s rush that saw his campaign come to a close. After the meeting, he acknowledged the end of the road.

“We gave it our best shot,” he said. “We got two nominations, which was really encouraging and we had a pathway and, unfortunately, the pathway in the plan didn’t work out.”

If he had been serious, if the bid was as pregnant with vision as he claimed it to be, he would have started much earlier in the year and all the indications are such a campaign would at least have got him in the race.

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Hopefully, the experience has lit a fuse for this young, obviously energetic man. He should think of running for the Dáil next time out. If elected he looks like the kind of fella who could have much to give in terms of public service.

That is, of course, on the assumption that he is as mad eager to serve as he intimated in his efforts to get a nomination. Just because you can’t be the president doesn’t mean you don’t have something to contribute.

It will be interesting to see whether he pursues public service or just disappears back into the maw of the business classes.