LAST UPDATE | 16 Sep

TIPPERARY COUNTY COUNCIL has voted to back businessman Gareth Sheridan’s bid for the upcoming presidential election.

It puts Sheridan one step closer to getting on the ballot, as he now goes in search of two more councils to support his nomination.

A total of 17 councillors – including a number of Independents, Labour and Fine Gael members – voted for Sheridan while 16 councillors abstained.

Three councillors voted for rival nominee, former Lord Mayor of Cork Kieran McCarthy, and another four councillors were absent.

Many of those who abstained came from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, with some councillors pointing out that their parties already had candidates in the race.

It came after a tense vote to even hold a nomination, with 20 councillors outvoting 19 fellow members to proceed with a contest between Sheridan and McCarthy.

In a brief address following the vote, Sheridan declared that Tipperary had “sent a message” in its councillors exercising the right to contribute to the presidential race.

“I’m fully aware of the old saying, ‘where Tipperary leads, Ireland follows’,” Sheridan told the chamber.

He added that Ireland is set to have “more than a three-horse race” for the upcoming election thanks to today’s vote.

From the bottom of my heart and from our entire team, I think you sent a real strong message today, and I think you should be commended for it.

Seamus Morris, an Independent councillor, had proposed Sheridan and this was seconded by fellow Independent Liam Browne.

Yesterday, Sheridan secured the first of the four local authority nominations he needs to gain a place on the presidency ballot paper, thanks to Kerry County Council.

In the latest local authority meeting for would-be candidates seeking to get on the ballot for the Áras, a raft of hopefuls gave their pitch to councillors, covering topics including the housing crisis, drug treatment and whistleblower protections.

Gaining the support of councils is an alternative route for would-be candidates who do not have sufficient backing from members of the Oireachtas.

Sheridan, who heads the US-based company Nutriband, was among the eight candidates who addressed the chamber today.

This morning’s meeting in Nenagh was significantly calmer compared to yesterday’s Super Monday that saw candidates whizzing from one end of the country to another in their bid to accepted by councillors.

In the end, a number of candidates didn’t turn up to the meeting – including 2018 runner-up Peter Casey – while another candidate arrived to make their pitch around an hour later than scheduled.

Sheridan’s campaign had clearly marked Tipperary out as one of the local authorities it thought would be best placed to support him.

When he announced his candidacy at a farm show in Tullamore, Co Offaly several weeks ago, he was flanked by the Independent councillors Browne and Morris – both put him forward today.

More support came from former candidate and Dragon’s Den businessman Gavin Duffy, who was spotted buzzing about the canteen in Nenagh, potentially trying to shore up support for Sheridan.

Several Independents from the separate camps of local TDs Michael Lowry and Mattie McGrath combined to give Sheridan the victory, alongside support from the Labour Party and some in Fine Gael.

Up popped Chicken

The vote for Sheridan nearly did not take place though.

Technical problems beset the hybrid meeting – leading to plenty of cursing from at least one councillor who had left their mic on – and it meant some councillors struggled to cast a vote.

Nowhere was this more apparent than in the case of Labour councillor Michael ‘Chicken’ Brennan, who was marked down as absent for the initial vote.

This vote was held to decide whether the council would decide to back a candidate at all. As seen in many of yesterday’s Super Monday meetings, a number of councils opted against giving their blessings to any candidate.

Veteran Fianna Fáil councillor Michael Smith had proposed that Tipperary not nominate anyone. He explained that his party already had its candidate in Jim Gavin and claimed he had only “received a number of emails” but no phone calls from those coming before the council.

As the votes came in, it looked like it might succeed – but up popped ‘Chicken’ Brennan later in the roll call: he explained his technical problems and was able to cast his vote.

His addition helped to break the deadlock 20-19 in favour of proceeding to a straight knock-out between Sheridan and McCarthy.

From there – with many of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael abstaining – it cleared the way for a combination of councillors to see Sheridan get the nod.

Further afield

In Wicklow, the county council heard presentations from a list of candidates – including one particularly animated showing from Dr Cora Stack -but ultimately decided not to nominate a candidate.

Peter Casey and Gareth Sheridan did not appear, and neither did Conor McGregor, who was listed to make a presentation to the council. Nick Delehanty made his pitch to councillors.

One Wicklow county councillor criticised the Fine Gael diktat preventing Fine Gael councillors from backing an Independent candidate in the time allocated for questions to Delehanty, and said the council was wasting the former lawyer’s time.

Despite her absence, Maria Steen was proposed and seconded, as was Nick Delehanty and Lorna McCormack.

Tánaiste Simon Harris was asked at the National Ploughing Championships today about Fine Gael’s decision to ask their counsellors not to nominate any Independents for President.

Harris said they engaged in a “ very, very consultative process” in advance of this decision: “we actually surveyed all our councillors, we asked every single Fine Gael councillor; what would you like to do?

“The overwhelming majority of folks said, we want to apply the party whip here, because we’re backing Heather Humphreys. We want Heather Humphreys to be president.”

Harris said councillors were “united behind” Humphreys and that applying the whip here was “just a common sense measure”.

“I’m very satisfied that we’re really unified in our process,” he said.

The Tánaiste also congratulated Gareth Sheridan on his nomination from Kerry County Council.

With reporting by Emma Hickey and Kate Henshaw