WE’RE NOW IN the final week of the presidential election campaign and by this stage we know plenty about the men and women who want to be the next president of Ireland but what about their spouses?

All of the candidates aside from David Norris are married and Norris has already gone on record to say that he is currently not seeing anyone nor does he have any plans to bring a partner into Áras an Uachtaráin if elected.

The role of a president’s spouse is generally not a high-profile one. The presidencies of Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese were marked by the low profile kept by their husbands Nick and Martin.

Martin McAleese has only recently come into the spotlight after he was nominated to the Seanad by Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

But what of the husbands and wives of the current crop of candidates?

We’ve been finding out:

Behind every successful president... meet the spouses vying for the Áras

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Bernie McGuinness
Damien Scallon
Julian Davis
Norma Mitchell
Sabina Coyle
Trish Gallagher

In full: all TheJournal.ie’s Race for the Áras coverage >

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