A bitter process of elimination made Michael D Higgins the only choice for Ireland’s patron saint of politics
THE LAST three presidential election campaigns have shown that a vicious war of attrition must be waged to choose the secular equivalent of a patron saint for Ireland.
The Robinson and McAleese campaigns had their moments of nastiness, but for pure cruelty, no modern election could compare to this year’s contest, and the series of events leading up to polling day.
Candidates – and indeed prospective candidates – quickly realise that when you offer yourself as the person most qualified to hold the highest office in the land, you must also be willing to put every facet and detail of your life and career under scrutiny – and be prepared for personal, and sometimes unfair, attacks.
On October 26th, Labour's long-time eminence grise, Michael D Higgins was elected president because, despite his dodgy knees, he remained the last man standing. Higgins had the most substantial and thought-out manifesto, but ultimately that made little difference. His age and some frothy anti-Americanism in the past were his only real liabilities. Of the seven candidates, he was the only one left largely undamaged by the campaign, the only one who managed to stay above the fray.
Elsewhere, the road to Áras an Úachtaráin was littered with the corpses of putative ambition. Within Fine Gael, Mairead McGuinness or Pat Cox would have made biddable candidates, who could have built on the party’s good showing in the general election. Instead, the parliamentary party was persuaded to back Gay Mitchell, a disastrous choice who tanked from the beginning and alienated voters with his combative negative style.
In the early part of the year, David Norris seemed unbeatable. He began campaigning early, assembled a strong backup team, and his flamboyant style had a big purchase with voters. But then his campaign walked into the quicksand of his past: old interviews with tricky pronouncements on sexuality; his representations on behalf of his former partner who was convicted of statutory rape. Norris lost half his team, stepped out and stepped back in again. But it was too late.
Martin McGuinness seemed an inspired choice for Sinn Féin. However, he found himself struggling when confronted with IRA atrocities, was too thin-skinned, and too indignant too often.
His last tactical act of the campaign was of almost military nature: putting paid to his own chances but taking out Seán Gallagher at the same time, blowing wide open the perception of Gallagher as Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin’s main quarry in the Dáil.
Others started out positively, too. Mary Davis put huge resources into the campaign and, on the face of it, seemed like a perfect fit with her Special Olympics background. But she found it hard to recover from the “Quango Queen” controversy.
Gallagher’s campaign was low-key but his upbeat message and relatively youthful and dynamic image appealed to people. Strong figures in an Irish Times poll put him in what seemed an unassailable position. But then his past also caught up with him. He had played down his Fianna Fáil connections too much. His business record also had too many unexplained gaps.
Some of the attacks on him were ruthless and unfair – especially the use of a fake tweet in an RTÉ debate. Having said that, his difficulty in dealing with the controversies led to huge doubts – and the most astonishing collapse in his support.
And like a mathematical equation, the subtraction of all others equalled only one thing: a Michael D Higgins presidency.
