Mary Banotti has said she will set up an informal group to advise her on the North if elected as President. The group, which would be set up only with the consent of the Government, would be drawn from all sides of the community, North and South, she said.
Making her first major campaign speech on the North, Ms Banotti said that as President she would not become a prisoner of either nationalists or unionists. "The motto of my Presidency will be `tabhar dom do lamh' and not `tiocfaidh ar la'," she told a Fine Gael rally in Castlebar, Co Mayo.
"In the pluralist tradition of Mary Robinson, I mean to extend the firm hand of friendship to both communities.
"As President, when I reach out to both communities, they will get one hand each, or both hands at the same time." Ms Banotti acknowledged her silence on the Northern issue so far, saying she had "waited for the dust to settle" in the controversy over Prof McAleese and Sinn Fein.
This debate had been divisive, said Ms Banotti, "but it has not been half as divisive as the deadly symbols which will surely follow if we try to suppress, sideline, or shunt aside any symbols, beliefs, traditions or hostile feelings of two communities in the North who have been parted by history".
