Independent presidential candidate Mary Davis will not be asking any of the councils who supported her nomination for the election if they will free up their vote to allow the them consider last-minute requests from Dana Rosemary Scallon or Senator David Norris, who need the backing of four local authorities to get on the ballot paper.
Ms Davis said “it’s not in my gift to free it up. It’s in the gift of the councillors. It’s their democratic right to decide. I’m not going to dictate or ask the councils. I’m quite happy with how the councils decide to vote at the moment.”
She was speaking in advance of the first presidential debate at the Irish Film Institute in Dublin between four of the five nominated candidates, on the role of culture and arts in the presidency.
Asked if she would follow the example of fellow independent candidate Sean Gallagher who asked five councils who supported him to free up their vote, Ms Davis said she had worked incredibly hard in contacting, meeting and making her presentation to the councils and following them up.
“I’ve worked for three months on this and at the end of the day it’s up to the councils and the councillors to decide who they’re going to vote for when they cast their vote and that’s the way it was in relation to the 12 councils who voted for me.”
Meanwhile, Dana Rosemary Scallon’s prospects of running for the presidency improved further with two more county councils agreeing to consider her nomination.
Westmeath and Cavan county councils have joined the list of councils willing to meet to consider Dana’s claims before Wednesday’s deadline for nomination.
Donegal and Longford county councils are expected to back Dana at meetings in the early days of next week. With Westmeath, Cavan and a number of other councils also due to consider her nomination she has a very good chance of getting a nomination.
