MICHAEL FLATLEY HAS said that the time wasn’t right for him to run for president this year, adding that it would be “mendacious of me to say that I have a clean bill of health right now”. 

The Lord of the Dance’s candidacy announcement came in the unusual setting of the High Court in late July, when his barrister indicated he planned to return to Ireland and run for the Áras. 

But last week, he confirmed that he was withdrawing from the Áras race to “put my family and my health first”. 

Flatley was the first guest on tonight’s Late Late Show, where he spoke to Patrick Kielty about his decision not to seek the nomination. 

“I decided the timing wasn’t right,” he said.

“It’s a very lonely place.”

Michael Flatley on his personal journey with cancer, and his involvement with a new exhibition by Breakthrough Cancer Research. #LateLate pic.twitter.com/kOjWQhK2rv

— The Late Late Show (@RTELateLateShow) September 12, 2025

“These things in life, you have to take it very seriously, and I do take it seriously. I took a long time to really think it over, to think what I could give and think what I’m doing now.”

The Riverdance star said: “I was walking at the beach in Doonbeg one day thinking, can I really do this? And, of course, I’d fired myself up. It’s a dream, and it became a really passionate dream. Yes, I can do this. I want to finish my career doing that.

It would be a wonderful thing, but it wouldn’t be fair to the Irish people.

He came to the conclusion that he could serve the people of Ireland a lot better by continuing to do what he does now in promoting the country and the culture globally. 

“It wasn’t easy because the greatest honour that any person could possibly have in life is to be president of the country you love.”

He wished all of the other candidates in the race the best of luck. So far, only three are confirmed to be on the ballot: Independent Catherine Connolly, Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys and Jim Gavin for Fianna Fáil. 

‘I feel like I’m on the way back’

Flatley also said it would be ”mendacious of me to say that I have a clean bill of health right now as well, and I don’t think that would be fair”. 

The former Riverdance star had surgery in January 2023 after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. He told Kielty that he is still having cancer treatment. 

“The good times outweigh the bad. I feel great. I feel like I’m on the way back. I don’t think there’s any fear of me, but I do take it seriously.”

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He said that three of his closest friends who had cancer died this year, including “my best friend in the world” Eddie Jordan, the Formula One legend. He died in March. 

Flatley said he is working with the charity Breakthrough Cancer Research, praising them as “great people”. 

“I can promise you, when you’re lying on that hospital bed being wheeled in, they’re the people that you think about. ‘Have they done their job?’ Well you can be damn sure these people have and that’s why I’m with them.”

He said his faith had helped him to live with his diagnosis and that his father, who was a fighter from Co Sligo, would be proud of him, adding: “I guess there’s a little bit of a fighter in me, and you have to rely on that at times like this”.

Flatley also spoke about his love of Ireland, saying his parents had “brought me up to be proud to be Irish, and I’ll always be proud to be Irish”. 

“I’ve travelled the world, and I might have been built in Chicago, but I’m 100% Irish,” he said.

“I hear people talk, and everybody looks to Ireland as the centre, as the light. Ireland is such a remarkable country, and to me, Ireland is the greatest country on Earth.”