The prospects of Ms Dana Rosemary Scallon receiving a nomination to contest a presidential election receded further last night despite an unexpected boost when Galway City Council voted to nominate the former Independent MEP.
Nine councils withheld their support yesterday although Ms Scallon's campaign still hopes to persuade at least two other councils to hold special meetings this week before nominations close on Friday.
While Laois County Council will vote on her candidacy at a special meeting on Thursday night, Ms Scallon needs the support of four local authorities to be nominated to contest an election against Mrs McAleese.
In an indication that her camp believes she is not assured of such support, Ms Scallon's campaign said last night that it may yet seek support from 20 Oireachtas members to secure her nomination.
The nomination from Galway City Council came after three Fine Gael councillors defied a whip imposed by the party leader, Mr Enda Kenny. Besides saying that "the result has been noted", Mr Kenny's spokesman declined to comment when asked whether he was disappointed at the outcome.
However, the matter is likely to be discussed by the next monthly meeting of the Fine Gael executive council, which has the power to sanction the councillors. One of the three Fine Gael councillors, Mr John Mulholland, said he hoped they would not be thrown out of the party for breaking ranks but were "prepared to face the music and take our medicine".
Ms Scallon was also supported by the Labour Mayor of Galway, Cllr Catherine Connolly. While the party's official spokesman said there was no whip in operation, he said such a vote would be regarded with surprise in the party.
Ms Scallon's brother and spokesman, Mr John Brown, indicated that the campaign will approach councillors in Leitrim, Mayo and Meath to call special meetings to debate her candidacy. "It's still do-able," he said. "We'll be contacting those county councils that have not voted, that have a right to vote."
However, sources on Leitrim County Council said last night that an effort to call such a meeting failed in recent days when it did not receive the backing of five councillors.
While Meath councillors were not aware last night of any proposal to call a special meeting, Fine Gael councillors on Mayo County Council are unlikely to back Ms Scallon because of the whip imposed by Mr Kenny, a local TD. The authorities that declined or failed to vote on a motion supporting the entry of Ms Scallon were: Kildare, Donegal, Galway, Roscommon, Westmeath, Limerick and Cork County Councils and Limerick and Cork City Councils.
Ms Scallon said: "I think the people of Ireland understand what has happened here. The political establishment decided they didn't want an election. We were told they didn't need an election. But actually I think there is an appetite for an election."
At Galway City Council, the Labour mayor and three Fine Gael councillors broke party ranks to endorse Ms Scallon. The nomination proposed by Green Party Cllr Niall Ó Brolcháin was carried by seven votes to five, with one abstention.
Two of Galway's four Labour councillors were absent while the fourth, Cllr Tom Costello, voted against the nomination.
Cllr Ó Brolcháin said he was supporting Ms Scallon because he believed in her right to stand and it was important for Galway City Council to nominate somebody who lived in the area. The nomination was seconded by Cllr Michael Crowe (Ind) who said that Ms Scallon's policies were less important than her desire and right to run.
Cllr Catherine Connolly said it was essential for a healthy democracy to have a presidential election. "The argument by certain sections of the media nationally that there is no point in putting forward a candidate because of humiliation, borders on bullying to me," she said.
The seven votes in favour of Ms Scallon's nomination were cast by Cllr Connolly (Lab), Cllr Callanan (SF), Cllr Pádraig Conneely (FG), Cllr John Mulholland (FG), Cllr Brian Walsh (FG), Cllr Ó Brolcháin (Green) and Cllr Crowe (Ind).
Those again the motion were Cllr John Connolly (FF), Cllr Michael Leahy (FF), Cllr Tom Costello (Lab), Cllr Donal Lyons (PD) and Cllr Declan McDonnell (PD). Cllr Terry O'Flaherty (PD) abstained from the vote.
Cllr Catherine Connolly's move comes just a week after she expressed disappointment at the Labour Party's failure to nominate her close colleague, former arts minister and Galway West TD, Mr Michael D. Higgins, for the presidency. She said Labour should have discussed Mr Higgins's nomination, and prepared for an election months ago.
Cllr Mulholland said he and party colleagues Cllr Walsh and Cllr Conneely "went against the party and we did this knowingly. We did it because we have very little power as councillors.
"One of the things we can still do is nominate a person for the presidential election. We have someone here in Galway who I would have liked to vote for, but Michael D. Higgins did not get the nod," he said.
