Mr Derek Nally's success in securing a presidential nomination from five local authorities represents a considerable coup by the founder and president of Victim Support in Ireland. He has confounded those commentators who believed that he would be shunted out of the race by the main political parties. Perhaps we should not be unduly surprised at his ability to secure the support of a number of local authorities. His success is a testament to his own qualities of persuasion, to his great personal integrity and, not least, to his distinguished record of public service. Mr Nally's achievement - and the earlier endorsement given to Dana by local councils - does not, however, obviate the need to make the nomination procedure less restrictive. In its report last year the Constitutional Review Group identified a clear need to "loosen the nomination procedure". It recommended that a specified number of voters should be allowed to nominate a candidate and/or a reduction in the number of Oireachtas members required for nomination. Both suggestions might be usefully explored by Government; a situation in which candidates like Derek Nally and Dana can only get their names on the ballot paper despite rather than because of the nomination procedure is not good for democracy.
Mr Nally now finds himself as the only man sharing a ballot paper with four women. This should not prove a disadvantage. Derek Nally will bring great qualities to the presidential contest. He first came to prominence as a youth leader in Co Wexford. As general secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, he was a courageous and thoughtful contributor to the debate on criminal justice; the first to make the case for community policing in the urban ghettos of this State and the first Garda leader to argue publicly for extradition of IRA suspects. Mr Nally has also given a voice to the victims of crime. His organisation has been the first to provide them with a structured programme of succour and support while mainstream politicians were not willing to do so. All of this - allied to Mr Nally's strong, impressive presence on television - should make him a considerable candidate in the election. But Mr Nally is undoubtedly handicapped by his lack of a party political machine and by his relative lack of financial support. It may also be the case that public concern about crime - the issue with which he is most identified - is now less intense after the recent success enjoyed by the Garda and the Criminal Assets Bureau. In the narrow timeframe available to him, Mr Nally must now articulate his own vision of the Presidency; how he might build on the success achieved by Mrs Robinson and how he might embody the spirit and the mood of the nation. Mr Nally has been an outstanding representative of various interests in this society. He has shown a readiness to address sensitive issues in the Garda when it was neither popular nor profitable. He has reached out to the defenceless victims of crime. He has sought to achieve greater public understanding of the factors that drive so many young men to crime. He is now facing his greatest challenge: to convince the electorate that he can be a President of all the people.