THE LABOUR PARTY is meeting this afternoon to choose which of Michael D Higgins, Fergus Finlay and Kathleen O’Meara will have its nomination for the presidential election.
Eamon Gilmore will address the meeting before handing over to each of the three candidates. Voting by secret ballot follows the candidates’ speeches and the results will be announced today.
Michael D Higgins
Author, poet, former minster and Labour Party president Michael D Higgins confirmed his bid for his part’s nomination at the start of May. Higgins was member of Dáil Éireann for 25 years and spent nine years in the Seanad. He served as Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaetacht from 1993 to 1997.
Announcing his intention to run for the presidency, Higgins emphasised his political experience as well as his commitment to Irish culture and human rights campaigns. Although acknowledging the only other declared Labour candidate at the time, Fergus Finlay, as a “formidable and able candidate”, Higgins said he would himself be the better choice for the party.
Fergus Finlay
Finlay is the CEO of the child protection charity Barnardos, an author and a regular columnist for the Examiner. He acted as an adviser to Labour’s Dick Spring in the 80s and 90s before leaving the party in 1997.
Some months ago, Finlay performed strongly in the first public opinion poll since he declared his intention to run for the Áras, but a straw poll of Labour TDs showed considerably less support for him. Seven out of the ten TDs questioned said they supported Higgins, while the other three were undecided.
Kathleen O’Mara
The two-term former senator confirmed late last month that she was putting her name forward for Labour’s consideration. O’Meara was unsuccessful in her bids to become a TD, but was elected to the Seanad in 1997 and 2002. She has also been a county and town councillor for Nenagh, Co Tipperary, and is a former RTÉ journalist.
O’Meara was appointed the head of advocacy and communications with the Irish Cancer Society in 2008.
Announcing her bid for the presidency, O’Meara said that although the president needs government approval for making public statements, it did not preclude them from having “conversations” with the public about the country’s future. She also said that she wanted to be in office to preside over the centenary of the 1916 East Rising.
In a recent poll run by TheJournal.ie, Higgins performed best out of the three Labour candidates, while O’Meara came in last.
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