ONLY TWO CANDIDATES campaigning for the presidency are confirmed to be vying for backing from Fingal County Council this week as a result of the local authority’s more stringent requirements for Áras hopefuls.

The north Dublin council, made up of 40 councillors, requires presidential hopefuls to secure four signatures from councillors before they are allowed to make a presentation at a special meeting on Friday.

This is a higher threshold for addressing councillors than is required by most other local authorities, and as such, only Gareth Sheridan and Maria Steen have the required number of signatures.

Independent candidate and entrepreneur Gareth Sheridan secured the four required signatures from independent councillors – Jimmy Guerin, Darren Jack Kelly, Tony Murphy and Joe Newman.

Former barrister and architect Maria Steen secured support from a two independent councillors, Cathal Boland and Tony Murphy, and two Aontú councillors, Ellen Troy and Gerard Sheehan.

Both candidates will address the special council meeting in person on Friday. 

An uphill battle

While both secured independent signatures, this does not mean that either necessarily has the support of those councillors in a vote to appear on the presidential election ballot paper.

Either Sheridan or Steen will need a majority of Fingal councillors (21 out of 40) to vote for them – a difficult task with Fine Gael’s seven councillors ruled out.

Last weekend, Fine Gael told its councillors to block the nomination of independent presidential election candidates at special local authority meetings around the country.

This leaves just 33 councillors to support Sheridan or Steen’s bids (if Fine Gael councillors abide by the mandate). 

Fingal County Council. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

The remaining councillors include seven Labour members, as well as two councillors apiece for Solidarity-People Before Profit and the Social Democrats.

These three parties have already given their backing to independent candidate Catherine Connolly.

As such, if these parties adopt a blocking strategy alongside Fine Gael, any path for Sheridan and Steen in Fingal will be nigh impossible, requiring the support from all other councillors bar one. 

One Labour member said that the chances of any Fingal councillors from the Connolly-backing parties choosing to vote for either Sheridan or Steen is “extremely unlikely”.

Several Fingal councillors told The Journal that they do not believe the local authority will vote to back any candidate.

Maria Steen backing

Tony Murphy, independent candidate for Balbriggan, said that while he believes councillors should have some control over presidential bids for support, the presidential election system “needs filtering”.

“We need to be a little bit more open in the way in which we consider candidates,” Murphy said.

Murphy confirmed that he was one of the four independent Fingal councillors to sign off on Steen, though he said whether or not she ultimately has his support to get on the ballot paper will depend on her presentation.

Two councillors told The Journal that “a number of Fine Gael members” in Fingal would have backed Steen if the party’s mandate was not in effect.

Aontú councillor Ellen Troy said that Steen will have her backing on Friday.

She added that Steen had received offers of signatures from more than the four required councillors, and that she would enjoy “a healthy amount of support” during the council vote.

Sheridan support

A spokesperson for Sheridan’s campaign said that the entrepreneur was “hopeful” ahead of his address to Fingal County Council.

“We’ve been working with councils and councillors where we have put in the groundwork in the lead up to nominations,” the spokesperson said.

On the assumed absence of Fine Gael’s seven councillors from the vote on Friday, the spokesperson said that it “does not mean it’s over”.

“It’s only seven out of 40,” the spokesperson said. “Fine Gael don’t control the council, it’s an incredibily diverse one and we are still hopeful heading into Friday.”