Gareth Sheridan has acknowledged the end of his presidential campaign, saying it is “mathematically” not possible for him to secure sufficient nominations from local authorities.
Speaking to reporters after failing to get support from Offaly County Council, Mr Sheridan said: “It unfortunately didn’t work out this time – but no regrets.”
Mr Sheridan lost the crunch vote at Offaly County Council despite a belief in his camp that he had the council secured. The council voted in favour of not nominating a candidate by 11 votes to five.
It is the end of the road for Mr Sheridan, who was due to present at Louth County Council this evening. After losing out in Offaly, he will no longer be going to Louth.
A spokesman for Mr Sheridan said that he was acknowledging that there was no way for him to get on the ballot paper and that he is disappointed by the results.
“The issues he was raising haven’t and won’t go away quickly and need to be addressed.
“It will be a particular one to take for a while, particularly coming so close. Losing by one vote in Meath is obviously very tight. If you look at Carlow, 11 to eight. [If] two people change their minds, we [would have won] that.
“We thought we could have secured Laois and Carlow, but, quite frankly, the decision by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to coalesce in the matter of impeding anyone getting on the ballot, not just him, made it almost an impossible task.
“Which it has proven to be.”
At the Offaly meeting, Mr Sheridan stated that he acknowledged that many would view him as “someone who’s never been elected to an office or has never been engaged in politics, maybe undeserving of a nomination”.
He added: “Yet, we already have somebody of a similar stature on the ballot today, and Jim Gavin, somebody who is backed by our Taoiseach and our largest party [Fianna Fáil], does not have a political background either.
“While he may not have a political background, he does have a very experienced background in terms of life experience, and he’s one of our greatest ever football managers.
“But I, too, councillors, have many achievements and experience in my much shorter lifetime.”
Earlier today, he suffered a major blow in securing his place on the presidential election ballot paper as he lost a vote at Meath County Council by just one vote.
Tipperary and Kerry councils both backed Mr Sheridan.
Mr Sheridan was one of 17 scheduled speakers who addressed the council meeting in Meath. Despite being scheduled to present, former presidential election candidate Peter Casey did not show up.
There was initial chaos at the meeting as councillors clashed on whether they should hear from candidates at all.
A motion was put forward on whether to nominate a candidate. If this was won, it was decided that nobody would present.
However, this was defeated by 15 votes to 11 and candidates did put their cases forward.
Mr Sheridan was the only candidate proposed, and a vote then took place. He lost this vote, with 13 voting for him and 15 against.