Blazing row in Laois over presidential election 'shambles'

POLITICAL fireworks exploded at a Laois Co Council meeting during Halloween week, when the presidential election nomination process was described as “a total disgrace” and “a shambles”.

Blazing barbs were launched across the chamber, amid anger over the exclusion of independent candidates by Fianna Fáil (FF) and Fine Gael (FG).

Former FG member turned independent Cllr Aisling Moran jibed: “Simon says, Fianna Fáil jumps.” Cllr Paddy Bracken (FF) shot back that he wouldn’t be lectured by someone who spent so long in the FG party.

Despite mutual recrimination and hostility at the 28 October monthly meeting, all 19 councillors unanimously supported a motion calling for reform of the nomination process for presidential elections.

The motion was put forward by eight members of the technical group, made up of Labour’s Cllr Marie Tuohy and independent councillors Ben Brennan, Ollie Clooney, Caroline Dwane Stanley, James Kelly, Aisling Moran, Tommy Mulligan and Aidan Mullins.

The motion called on the government ‘to establish a Referendum Commission to implement the recommendations of the Constitutional Convention concerning the nomination process for presidential elections, as the current provisions contained in the 1937 Act are no longer fit for purpose’.

At a previous council meeting before the presidential race, FF and FG councillors voted against the nomination of independent Gareth Sheridan, who needed the support of four county councils. 

In a lengthy speech proposing the motion for reform, Cllr Moran said the 2025 presidential election would go down as “the worst in history”.

She said: “We had a two-horse race, completely orchestrated by Simon Harris and Micheál Martin. Of course, the shambles which was the nomination process wouldn’t have been successful if it wasn’t for all the FG and FF councillors who made it happen. A diktat was sent from Simon Harris to all FG councillors and subsequently all FF councillors followed.” 

Cllr Moran accused both government party leaders of “attempting to manipulate and stage manage and interfere in the election process and dictate who would be on the presidential ballot, in a manner that we usually associate with Russia”.

She said: “Micheál Martin and Simon Harris not only denied their own parties, their own councillors and their own memberships any say in the matter, but they also denied the broader public and the electorate. Everyone in this room knows that and it must never be allowed to happen again.

“Councillors in this chamber, like their colleagues all over the country, were instructed and indeed intimidated into blocking a legitimate candidate getting on the ballot.” 

Cllr Moran highlighted the huge number of spoiled votes in the election, saying that 54% didn’t vote and 20% of those who did spoiled their vote, meaning that “75% of the electorate felt they had no one to vote for”.

The Killeen-based councillor suggested that long overdue and necessary reforms could include a reduction in the presidential term from seven to four years. A candidate should be able to get a nomination if they had the support of 80 councillors from a minimum of four councils nationwide, instead of the majority support of four councils.

She based this figure on the fact that a nomination requires 20 Oireachtas members or about 8.5%, which would equate to 80 of the country’s 950 councillors.

Cllr Marie Tuohy said that both FF and FG engaged in “a blatant control strategy” which was a “manipulation of democracy”, resulting in public anger that was palpable long before polling day. Many expressed their anger by spoiling their votes, or not voting at all.

Cllr Tuohy said: “There were 4,156 spoiled votes in Laois - over 14% - and that can never be allowed to happen again.” 

Cllr Tommy Mulligan said the public’s level of disillusionment was “staggering”. He was disappointed by the undemocratic process and “the conduct of councillors in this chamber”, which had changed his view of how the chamber operated.

He said: “You are serving the people of Laois and whether someone is left wing or right wing, they should have a chance to get on the ballot paper.

Cllr Mulligan added: “The hypocrisy of the parties now calling for reform when it didn’t go their way turned my stomach.” 

Cllr James Kelly agreed, noting that reform of the presidential election process was recommended 27 years ago but the main parties did nothing. He said: “Now, because they got a bloody nose, they are looking at reform.” 

While acknowledging that she canvassed for Catherine Connolly, Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley said that more candidates would have made the campaign more interesting and would have engaged younger people. She said that reforms should be introduced no matter who was in government, as what happened this time should never happen again.

Cllr Ben Brennan described the blocking of independent candidates as “a total disgrace” and felt a referendum would be required to change the current system.

A strong counter-attack was launched by Cllr Paschal McEvoy (FF), who said that Sinn Féin had the Oireachtas numbers to run three candidates, while Labour and the Social Democrats could also have fielded some.

Cllr McEvoy said: “As far as I’m concerned, the other parties can take as much of the blame as anyone else, as they didn’t nominate anybody.” 

Cllr Moran countered that, unlike FF and FG, the other parties didn’t block people seeking nominations. She claimed that Gareth Sheridan had phoned both Cllr McEvoy and Cllr John Joe Fennelly (FF) when he was seeking a nomination. 

Cllr Fennelly immediately declared: “Not once did I get a phone call from Mr Sheridan.” Cllr Moran said: “He said he rang you and he spoke to you.” The normally mild-mannered Cllr Fennelly demanded: “Are you calling me a liar?” 

During a heated exchange with both FF councillors, Cllr Moran said that nobody had asked them to vote for Mr Sheridan. They simply asked them not to block him.

Cllr McEvoy said that FF had a candidate in the race when he spoke to Mr Sheridan. He said: “I stood by my party and I make no apologies for it. Why are you crying because of Fianna Fáil? The others can take as much of the blame.” 

Raised voices drowned each other out, with taunts traded across the chamber. At one point, Cllr Bracken told Cllr Moran to “show a bit of respect” and said: “Don’t come in here to lecture us. I’m not going to take that.” 

Cllr Moran told FF and FG councillors that they were “all sheep”, while Cllr McEvoy retorted that she was “living in cloud cuckoo land”.

Cllr Paddy Buggy (FG) observed: “It’s a pity it has come to this. We should say congratulations to Catherine Connolly and leave it at that.” 

 The successful Laois motion will be circulated to all local authorities across the country for their support, as well as to councillors’ representative body the AILG.

Despite their differences, councillors of all political hues and none congratulated independent TD Catherine Connolly on her landslide victory, which will see her inaugurated as the tenth President of Ireland.