Week two, sensational prequel two. Smacks of desperation, but it’s better than bumping a useful debate oin education to hear about Sinead O’Connor looking for a shag.

he tried to protect a pedophile! people forget this, he should be locked up!!

No he didn’t. Get your facts straight. He asked the Israeli judicial system for compassion in its judgement. Did you read the letter?

And wouldn’t asking for “compassion in it’s judgement” not be more or less doing what Conor O’Rourke said? He didn’t just send the letter for the crack, his intention behind it was to protect him from his crimes. Inexcusable.

Conor O’Rourke makes it sound like he was trying to hide him and keep him away from the judicial system. By your own logic Gay Mitchell tried to protect two murderers and a rapist. He should be locked up.

I agree. We should therefore welcome Bertie onto the ballot.

up to this week I was so sure Bertie was the cause of the country’s woes but now it is becoming clear that the problems of the recessions directly relate to wreckless international banking practices

Jimmy, don’t do it! International nothing. We were able to ride it until the vote-buying began. It was Bertie. Never lose sight of that.

@Toast Rack
Couldn’t agree more. The man still labors under the false delusion that he would do pretty well, it would give me great pleasure to see him cured of that.

I could add something here, but i’d get banned!!!! LOL!

Instinctively, I would tend to agree… however, I reckon withdrawing from the race allowed the nightmarish PR storm of the time to blow over, allowing him to re-enter at a time when he is more likely to accrue the necessary endorsements from county councils et al.

As I say, in my heart I would insist that he should never have pulled out and should have weathered the storm, but perhaps he pulled off a bit of a tactical masterstroke. Only time will tell.

There’s a difference between clemency and asking that some is not put to death. It’s not a double standard, it’s two different stories.

Jane, the reason one candidate received such scrutiny but not the other is because one is a homosexual, and the other is a born-again Roman Catholic homophobic bigot. The sad fact is that many consider consensual, but illegal due to the age of consent, sexual relations between two men as far more heinous than the shooting, raping and murdering of an innocent person. I don’t agree with breaking the law of the age of consent. What Ezra Nawi did was wrong. And what Norris did was a grave error of judgment. But that is not what certain grudge bearers have against Norris – they just despise him because he is gay. They just used the letter as a convenient tool against him, while at the same time ignored those letters Gay Mitchell wrote simply because Mitchell is a heterosexual. In other words, they don’t care about the victims in any of these cases. It’s all about sexual inclination of the two candidates.

@ David. Clemency, s. 1. The gentle or kind exercise of power; leniency, mercy; compassion in judging or punishing. 2. Mildness of weather.

Mitchell asked for the death sentence to be removed – that is an act of clemency. Norris never asked for Ezra to be freed. He asked for clemency. Both asked for clemency.

Eden there is another side to this, Norris could have walked away but the campaign to have him return was enormous. I understand your point of view but maybe he feels obliged to do so, which of course would be typical Norris.

What enormous campaign is that? While I believe he should be on the ballot I have yet to see a compelling reason to vote for him. Just my honest opinion,

Vote for pedro!

I agree Ciaran .. I suspect the same as you do. He already decided not to run, and if he decides to run now it is a bit like Lanigans Ball, or the fiddlers elbow. Indecision any way you look at it and it does not feel good or look good .

The only sane hypothesis that’s been bandied about these pages so far.

That is a good post Ciarán.

It will end in failure, the Sunday Independent must be rubbing their hands in glee, they are going to start publishing straight away and there is material there that will finish his campaign again. He knows this, we know this. Why is he putting himself through that. There are 3 decades of comments that were made purely to be outrageous and without a care for his political future., He always believed that he would be automatically voted in to Trinity but it’s very limited franchise and the fact that once a Senator is elected by Trinity they garner votes virtually automatically. The poor bastard won’t know what hit him over the next 6 sundays.

For those familiar with US politics, there’s a truism that New York politicians don’t survive west of the Hudson – it will become apparent the same can be applied to Trinity pols (just substitute the Hudson river with the walls of Trinity)

This time we’ll be well-prepared for the defamers.

What I find fascinating about the people who smear Norris because of his letter, are the same bunch that seem to see no problem in supporting the Paedo-enabling Catholic Church.

I think its the groups who decry his homosexuality that will face a rigorous invasion of – whatever it was you were going to post.

Senator Norris was championing the cause of the disenfranchised when Bertie and Charlie were pursuing a disastrous agenda driven by hubris and vanity. There is no comparison.

However, if he, or either of the latter two should choose to run, I hope the electorate would be allowed the choice to vote for them, or not, simply because it’s the democratic thing to do.

So, if the political parties have any regard for the notion of a republic, they will lift their party whips now, and allow individuals to support whoever they choose.

So what’s your opinion on Gay Mitchell?

While unlawful carnal knowledge (having sex with an underage individual) is a serious crime, it’s not in any way the same as paedophilia. Just thought I’d clarify.

Wtf is Mary Davis?

doesn’t matter Louise – what matters is the public having the CHOICE to vote for who they wish to vote for.
Now run along and vote for your Mary..

@Shane Boyle-Simms
The poll asks ‘should David Norris restart his bid’, not should he be ALLOWED to, and this is what Louise has expressed her opinion on. So run along with your misdirected condescension and learn to read more carefully.

Mary Davis has about as much charisma as Snooker champion Steve Davis. Wonder are they related?

You obviously haven’t been reading the opinion Polls Louise, Norris is the strongest candidate, not to mention we live in a democracy, anyone who has a following should be allowed to run, and i say this as someone who might not even vote norris.

Mary Davis is running for president based on a disability platform. I believe that a person who truely believed in disabled people’s rights, would be supporting a candidate with a disability to run for the office of president -that would be real progress. As a person with a disability, I am voting for Norris (assuming I am given that choice). To me he is a warm, intelligent, articulate man who has done so much for human rights in Ireland and internationally. Should he become president, I believe that he would be a wonderful symbol for acceptance of diversity.

Mary ( who ) Davis … The way I see it is , Norris should be rerun if he so decides . Makes no difference what we all think and the public will decide in the end .

@Lynda Byrne

It seems you are as misdirected as your pal Louise.
I did read carefully , expressed my OPINION and my comment reflects that.
So read it again Lynda, oh and run along and don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

I’m afraid that Norris has undone the good work of 20 years with this campaign. Any respect that I had for the man that I had (and his work on decriminalising homsexuality was key) is being eroded every day.

@Grace Kelly
Mary Davis is running for president based on a disability platform. I believe that a person who truely believed in disabled people’s rights, would be supporting a candidate with a disability to run for the office of president -that would be real progress

@Grace Kelly
Should he become president, I believe that he would be a wonderful symbol for acceptance of diversity.

Surely though, your first preference is for someone who can best fulfil the role of president, as laid out by the constitution, regardless of gender, sexuality, disability or what ever. Personally, thats what im looking at first and foremost. This isnt the X factor or strictly come dancing. The role of president, while largely ceremonial, is an important one, and there are important duties that come with the role, something that recent presidents have not paid enough attention to. It is first and foremost about fulfilling the constitutional role, with promoting positive agendas and all that other stuff should taking second place.

Mary Davis has an interesting idea on how to tackle Prostitution. Mary and Sister Stan have developed a ground breaking strategy and I’m not joking:”Tackling demand is the key to ending prostitution and sex trafficking”
http://www.marydavis.ie/tag/sister-stan/ I thought the headline was hilarious but curiosity lead me to read how exactly they planned to address the “demand” but they had no real plan just abstract rantings about introducing legislation nothing effective. I was naturally disappointed because I thought Sister Stan and some Nuns would do something practical about tackling demand;)

@Kirk Delaney
Surely though, your first preference is for someone who can best fulfil the role of president, as laid out by the constitution, regardless of gender, sexuality, disability or what ever… The role of president, while largely ceremonial, is an important one, and there are important duties that come with the role… It is first and foremost about fulfilling the constitutional role, with promoting positive agendas and all that other stuff should taking second place

But Kirk, surely you can see that someone I describe as: “a warm, intelligent, articulate man who has done so much for human rights in Ireland and internationally” –is some I believe is clearly capable of carrying out the functions of the presidency? I believe that Senator Norris is a very intelligent man with a strong character, who will make a great head of state and guardian of the Irish constitution. I just also think/hope that him holding this important office can mean more than that…

Like it or not, people like Mary Davies and Senator Norris, and before them, Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese do influence people because of their gender, their sexuality or the groups of people their work is associated with. It can be inspiring to see people who represent minority groups in influential positions, and the public exposure associated with the office can potentially influence opinions and bring about attitudinal changes. Obviously, people should not get into office just because of inspiring human rights work, but if they have the other necessary attributes/qualifications for the job, it certainly doesn’t hurt!

@Kirk Delaney
RE: “Surely though, your first preference is for someone who can best fulfil the role of president, as laid out by the constitution, regardless of gender, sexuality, disability or what ever… The role of president, while largely ceremonial, is an important one, and there are important duties that come with the role… It is first and foremost about fulfilling the constitutional role, with promoting positive agendas and all that other stuff should taking second place”

But Kirk, surely you can see that someone I describe as: “a warm, intelligent, articulate man who has done so much for human rights in Ireland and internationally” –is some I believe is clearly capable of carrying out the functions of the presidency? I believe that Senator Norris is a very intelligent man with a strong character, who will make a great head of state and guardian of the Irish constitution. I just also think/hope that him holding this important office can mean more than that…

Like it or not, people like Mary Davies and Senator Norris, and before them, Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese do influence people because of their gender, their sexuality or the groups of people their work is associated with. It can be inspiring to see people who represent minority groups in influential positions, and the public exposure associated with the office can potentially influence opinions and bring about attitudinal changes. Obviously, people should not get into office just because of inspiring human rights work, but if they have the other necessary attributes/qualifications for the job, it certainly doesn’t hurt!

@Grace Kelly
But Kirk, surely you can see that someone I describe as: “a warm, intelligent, articulate man who has done so much for human rights in Ireland and internationally”

Hi Grace. Without getting into personalities, do you not think though that a presidential candidate should actually be focusing on how they intend on carry out those duties, instead of focusing on what they wish to do for a particular cause. Id like to see a candidate that came out and said that they would not be afraid, if the occasion arose, to utilise the powers of office, that up until now have not been exercised. Id like to see a candidate that proposed to act as a bulwark against legislation that they felt was against the peoples wishes, by using their powers to referring bills to the supreme court where necessary. Id like to see one that promised to protect me, an Irish citizen and my rights with all the little powers that the office gives them. With the Senate as useless and ineffective as it is, and with almost all power vested in the executive as opposed to the Dail, the role of president takes on much more importance. The purpose of each of the different houses of the Oireachtas is not necessarily that they will all talk in union, but more that one should place checks and balances on the activities of the other. The senate is in danger of being dumped because it failed in that task and the presidency is rapidly heading towards redundancy too, if it ever really did take on the role that it should have

Ive no problem with a president also taking on an advocate role for different causes, but let them do their primary job first. Thats what the role was created for.

@Grace Kelly
Obviously, people should not get into office just because of inspiring human rights work, but if they have the other necessary attributes/qualifications for the job, it certainly doesn’t hurt!

I can agree with that 100%. My problem with the current campaign is that the candidates seem to be focusing almost entirely on what they will do for some particular cause, while almost entirely ignoring the role of the position itself.

Louise, your comments are consistent, if little else.

Three Hail Marys,jasus wept…Hic…

Where’s the link? I just checked out Tubridy’s twitter account and I can’t see that.

Senator Norris just tweeted saying he’s looking forward to being on it tonight, must be a bogus Tubridy account, I thought he’d left Twitter…?

That appears to be a bogus account – as far as we know, Ryan Tubridy is still off Twitter. And David Norris’s official account tweeted six minutes ago that “I am really looking forward to my appearance on the Late Late Show tonight”.
http://twitter.com/#!/SenDavidNorris/status/114690151615168513