The Race for the Áras

by Tom Reddy

  Norris conceded defeat. It was a good day for Ireland, he said, adding that he’d be

  happy to be an Irishman under the presidency of Michael D. Higgins. Although he is a Labour Party member, Michael D, like myself, is a little bit of a maverick, and when you have such a concentration of power in the hands of the coalition I think it’s good to have somebody who will be in a position, morally and intellectually, to speak out on behalf of the marginalised. I know that Michael D will do that.

  Among the commentators, pundits and experts drawn from various fields to provide comment for RTE’s coverage during the count was the former presidential candidate Mary Banotti. She described her own presidential election campaign fourteen years earlier as ‘completely exhausting’. From an outside broadcast unit in the gardens of Dublin Castle she told RTE’s Miriam O’Callaghan:

  I hope Michael D is lying in bed with a cold compress over his eyes before he has to face the hordes tonight. I was going to say he’d make a lovely little President, but no, he’ll be a great President.

  Then, reflecting on her own experience, she said the 2011 campaign must have been ‘horrendous’ for all the candidates. ‘We can all cheer for him later.’

  Later, O’Callaghan, who had been speculated on as a possible presidential candidate herself, was spotted by the Irish Examiner drying her hair in a drab corridor of the castle complex before going live with Martin McGuinness. Shaun Connolly reported in the Examiner:

  It was all hugs as he bounded onto the podium, relieved he had done well enough to justify the rough and tumble of the contest—and also, no doubt secretly relieved he would not have to spend seven years in what he calls ‘down here.’

  As his thoughts returned to Derry he quoted ‘The Town I Love So Well,’ musing: ‘What’s done is done, what’s won is won.’ But he did not need to deliver the next line to sum up the six contenders blown out of the race by the quiet storm of Michael D: ‘And what’s lost is lost and gone for ever.’

  McGuinness had earlier done a tour of the count centre, a huge smile on his face, looking more like a winner than a loser. He was accompanied by Gerry Adams and Pearse Doherty, the Donegal South-West TD. There had been brief speculation that Doherty could have been the Sinn Féin nominee, until it was realised he was too young and had yet to have a thirty-fifth birthday.

  The Examiner also noted that an ‘ashen-faced’ Mitchell had crept into the hall almost unnoticed. ‘Mitchell, looking as miserable as his share of the vote, at least managed to keep a lid on his temper and we were spared another “Gay rage outburst”,’ Shaun Connolly wrote.

  There was a media scrum as the candidates arrived for the declaration of the first count shortly after nine o’clock that evening, twelve hours after the first boxes were opened, from as far away as Cos. Donegal and Kerry and as near as the RDS hall across the road.

  Seán Gallagher, flanked by his wife, offered his congratulations to Higgins. Shortly after 4:30 p.m. Gallagher had phoned Higgins to offer his congratulations and concede victory. In a subsequent statement he said:

  In the last hour I’ve called Michael D. Higgins to congratulate him on his performance and his success in this election. He will have my full support as President, and I sincerely thank him for a positive campaign. His slogan stated that he would be a President to be proud of, and I believe he will be that President.

  As the first count was announced hours later he said:

  I want to wish him every success and congratulate him and indeed wish his wife, Sabina, and family every success and health and happiness for his seven years. I truly wish him well.

  He also thanked his own team, which had grown from two people three months earlier to two thousand volunteers, and said he had no regrets. ‘None whatsoever. It’s a great thing in Ireland that anybody, an ordinary person like me, can step forward and run for President of Ireland.’

  In a corner of the media centre in Dublin Castle, Greg McKevitt, Niall Glynn and Claire Brennan welcomed untold millions to the BBC blog, which ran through the day. It was a multimedia blog, including sound-bites, video and print. The following extracts give a concise account of the closing minutes.

  BBC 20.58. RTE is reporting that it’s just five minutes until a first preference declaration. Cheers are resounding around Dublin castle as the president elect Michael D Higgins arrives.

  BBC. 21.01. Labour’s Joan Burton refers to the influence of the final presidential debate on Monday night, saying that because of the floods in Dublin and other parts of the country, more people were at home watching the debate. She estimated that about three quarters of voters watched the programme.

  BBC 21.01. A flurry of candidates have just arrived at Dublin Castle. David Norris, Gay Mitchell and the president in waiting Michael D Higgins are here. I grab the first interview with Gay Mitchell, asking him if he’s disappointed. ‘I just need to gather my thoughts,’ he tells me abruptly.

  BBC 21.12. And it has been confirmed: Michael D Higgins tops the first preference poll with 701,101 votes.

  BBC 21.12. Michael D Higgins is congratulated at the count in Dublin Castle.

  BBC 21.13. Mary Davis (48,657) and Dana Rosemary Scallon (51,220) are eliminated.

  BBC 21.18. And here’s the rest of the vote details as we move into the second stage of counting … Sean Gallagher (504,964), Martin McGuinness (243,030), Gay Mitchell (113,321) and David Norris (109,469).

  BBC 21.21. So with vote transfers to be reallocated from Mary Davis and Dana Rosemary Scallon, Michael D Higgins hasn’t got far to go to be confirmed as president. He’s on 701,101 and the quota he has to reach is 885,882.

  BBC 21.24. A few more statistics for you … the turnout was 56.1%—1,790,438 people voted out of a potential electorate of 3,191,157.

  BBC 21.32. Michael D Higgins celebrates his victory with his wife Sabina.

  Mary Davis, who trailed in last, described the campaign as both dirty and challenging.

  I knew going into the campaign that it was going to be difficult. I didn’t go into the campaign with my eyes closed for sure. It was more challenging at times than I expected. It was a dirty campaign, there’s no doubt about that, you can see that yourselves. Hopefully, I have led the way for others to be courageous enough to stand up and go forward.

  The candidates lined up on the stage for the announcement of the result of the first count. Dana was the last to arrive. Would she try for the position again in seven years’ time? she was asked. Prompting smiles all around, she replied:

  I think I might be too old to run for President again … Oh, no, maybe not, because I’d still be younger than Michael D. But, however, I think it’s really great to have come through a campaign …

  The vote was adjourned to the following day.

  That evening in his city-centre apartment Higgins began drafting his acceptance speech for the following day. He wanted to use postcards as prompts but couldn’t find any. His family turned the apartment upside down; and then Higgins had a brainwave. He tore open the packaging of the new shirt he had bought for the following day, and pulled out the cardboard insert and cut it into postcard size for his speech.

  ‘I will work with head and heart for the people of Ireland,’ he would pledge from his makeshift prompt cards to a crowd of supporters, mostly wearing red ties or roses.

  Both Mitchell and Davis failed to turn up for the final count and for the formal declaration by the returning officer, Ríona Ní Fhlannghaile. Davis would later apologise, saying she was unaware of the protocol and that no slight was intended.

  Mitchell, who won just 6½ per cent of the vote, would tell RTE news that organisational and strategic issues lost him the election.

  I lost it because people felt having a Fine Gael President and a Fine Gael Taoiseach was not ideal. There’s probably other reasons: organisational reasons, strategic reasons. People want to nitpick. I was on the platform if anyone wanted to meet me. I spoke to Michael privately and publicly, and I wish him the best. He’ll make a fine
President. I think it’s sour grapes to be asking me this. I’m tired. I’ve behaved honourably throughout.

  Only the top three vote-catchers—Higgins, Gallagher and McGuinness—breached the 12½ per cent threshold, entitling them to recoup €200,000 each for election expenses.

  Summing up the Labour Party’s delight with the Higgins victory, his election agent, Kevin O’Driscoll, said their candidate had won the highest number of first-preference votes ever, and the highest number of transfers, and had received the highest number of votes ever—more than a million votes.

  Shortly after 7 p.m. that evening the Defence Forces’ director of administration, Col. Joe Dowling, called to the Higgins apartment in Dublin to deliver a scroll, the official notification of his election. Throughout the city similar couriers were delivering the results to the President, the Chief Justice, the Ceann Comhairle of the Dáil, the Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, and the secretary-general to the President, Adrian O’Neill.

  Having delivered the scroll, Col. Dowling saluted his new supreme commander—and former university lecturer when he was a sociology student in the 1970s.

  The Irish Times editorial of 29 October put into context the race for the Áras, centring on the emergent main candidates.

  In reality, there were issues the independent candidates failed to address adequately. [Gallagher] reacted with disdain and then anger when a businesswoman legitimately questioned accounts related to one of his businesses. He repeatedly refused to respond to unanswered questions from Irish Times journalist Colm Keena about an €82,829 loan from one of his companies, and of his fund-raising on behalf of Fianna Fáil. Connotations associated with collecting cheques in brown envelopes resurfaced in the public consciousness. His predicament was compounded by initial denials, dissembling and poor radio interviews on subsequent days.

  The Irish Times also noted the significance of the demise of the campaigning poster, the growth and influence of social media in stirring debate and fuelling rumour, and the dominance of negative campaigning.

  For many candidates it was a brutal experience, sometimes unfairly so. The entrance of Mr McGuinness into the race broadened the debate on the new Ireland—but it is one requiring a fuller reconciliation of its past, rather than a simplistic ‘let’s move on’. The reward for Sinn Féin, nonetheless, is a greater foothold on the political landscape of the island of Ireland.

  Stephen Collins wrote that there was some irony in the fact that, by taking Gallagher down, McGuinness contributed to the Labour Party’s victory.

  It seems, though, that in the battle for top dog status on the Opposition side of the Dáil scuppering a Fianna Fáil-linked candidate was the primary objective for Sinn Féin.

  This time around Seán Gallagher’s lack of political experience contributed to his inept handling of the McGuinness claims. His failure to come up with convincing answers to serious questions on live television about Fianna Fáil fund-raising activities raised fundamental doubts about his ability to handle the office of president.

  Gallagher’s business record also came under intense scrutiny in the final days of the campaign both in the print and broadcast media and ultimately it all proved too much. For all the public’s desire to elect a president from outside the ranks of established politicians, it was the most experienced politician of all who showed the skills necessary to win the race.

  The blame for Fine Gael’s failure to win the Áras should be shared by the candidate and the party, Collins said.

  The key people who masterminded the most successful general election in the history of the party last February knew that Gay Mitchell was not the best candidate for the presidency but they did not do nearly enough to let their TDs and councillors know of their concerns.

  Then when Mitchell was selected against their better judgment he was largely left to his own devices … By the time the party leadership focused on the election, it was too late … The TDs, councillors and party activists who selected the candidate blithely assumed the presidency was theirs for the taking. They have suffered a rude awakening.

  ‘I sent fake SF tweet,’ an anonymous man confirmed to the Irish Mail on Sunday. The tweet Pat Kenny had read out on ‘The Frontline’ was a fake. It had thrown Gallagher’s composure, and under pressure from McGuinness he said he may have collected an envelope from Hugh Morgan. Sinn Féin had always denied it sent the message.

  Interviewed anonymously by email, the 33-year-old man described himself as not a member of any political party and at present as working in Dublin at a social media company and previously in Government departments. ‘When I noticed the mainstream media were not questioning Gallagher enough, I decided to tweet during the debate. I had no plan to impact on the campaign at the start. I voted for McG, but I am not a member of SF. However, I have voted SF recently as they have policies I support.’ Asked about RTE broadcasting his message, he said, ‘It was a major mess up on their part. I know in other media organisations that the account is genuine and has not been hacked.’ He added that he posted the bombshell tweet as ‘just a bit of fun’ and that he was ‘just relaying a rumour’.

  On 22 November, Gallagher submitted a 22-page complaint to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland about his ‘ambush’ on ‘The Frontline’. He was seeking an apology to be broadcast on ‘The Frontline’, a public hearing that RTE should be compelled to attend to explain how a fake tweet purporting to be from Sinn Féin was broadcast, and for RTE to publish and implement a policy for the treatment of material posted on the internet.

  At 10:39 p.m. a tweet was posted on the account @mcguinness4pres. This was not the official McGuinness campaign account, which was @Martin4Prez2011. The tweet stated: ‘The man that Gallagher took the cheque from will be at a press conference tomorrow.’

  At 10:49 p.m., immediately after an advertising break, Pat Kenny addressed Gallagher. ‘On the Martin McGuinness for President account, Sinn Féin are saying they are going to produce the man who gave you the cheque for five grand.’

  At 11:02 p.m. a tweet from the official McGuinness campaign account stated: ‘As official campaign twitter for martin we need to point out that we have made no comment on the Gallagher FF donation issue.’ Gallagher said this tweet was posted to the Áras11 feed, from which RTE had taken the fake tweet earlier, but also to RTE’s own feed, rtefl.

  Gallagher contends that RTE knew the original tweet was a fake from that moment but made no attempt to correct it before the end of the programme at 11.28 p.m. He also alleges that RTE deliberately concealed information that would have revealed the tweet as a fake by not broadcasting corrective information released by the McGuinness campaign, and that the station made public material that it knew, or ought to have known, was false. He claims that this material distorted a crucial debate and recklessly misled him, the audience and the electorate. RTE had abandoned such journalistic norms as may be expected of it to fulfil a ‘self-appointed role as a game-changer’.

  Gallagher added that, notwithstanding this, RTE did not make any reference to the official tweet. It failed to draw this information to his attention, or to the attention of McGuinness, the audience, viewers or the electorate at any time during the remaining twenty-six minutes of the live broadcast.

  He also accused RTE of failing to take reasonable steps to confirm the origin and contents of the fake tweet and of failing to put the tweet to McGuinness’s team for corroboration during the preceding commercial break.

  A spokesperson for Gallagher confirmed that a legal option of challenging the result of the election in the courts would not be pursued.

  RTE confirmed that it had received the complaint and said that it would be dealing with it through the Broadcasting Authority.

  On the same Sunday, President-elect Higgins went on RTE radio to talk about his campaign. He couldn’t answer one question: it was still too painful for him, a friend explained. The question was, What would your father think of you becoming President?

  It brought back painful memories
of a hard childhood and a long journey to the Park. Born in Limerick, his father first rented and then bought a small pub, but it was hard to make ends meet. Five-year-old Michael and his younger brother, John, were sent to live with their unmarried aunt and uncle in Co. Clare. His twin sisters stayed with their parents. When his aunt died, his uncle convinced the Higgins family to move in with him, but, while there was great joy at the reunion, the fifties were a hungry time, with nettles growing on the holed roof and broken windows remaining unrepaired.

  Michael attended St Flannan’s in Ennis, cycling the round trip of twelve miles every day. He took a job in a local factory to ‘pay the debts in the local shop’ and later worked as a clerical officer in the ESB, after abandoning his ambition to train as a teacher in St Patrick’s College, Dublin. A friend in the Legion of Mary, Redmond Corbett, would later lend him £200, which he used to go to University College, Galway, where he joined Fianna Fáil. He later studied at the Universities of Manchester and Indiana.

  He switched his political affiliation to the Labour Party, inspired by Noël Browne, the former minister who was credited with eradicating TB in Ireland. He failed in his Dáil election attempts in 1969 and 1973 but won a seat in the subsequent Seanad elections. The same year he married Sabina, a joint founder of the Focus Theatre group; he had met her in 1969 at a party in the house of journalist Mary Kenny, celebrating Kenny’s appointment as women’s editor of the Irish Press. ‘I was just blown over the night I met him,’ recalled Sabina (69). ‘I reached out and held his hand and that was that.’ Sabina gave up acting but remained active in community theatre and drama education and did a masters degree in drama when she was sixty.