Main Points
Maria Steen is now just two nominations away from being able to contest presidential election.Senator Aubrey McCarthy gave his support to Steen on Wednesday morning.Nominations to enter the presidential race close at noon today.Who exactly is Maria Steen? Here is a profile of the Iona Institute barrister hoping to become president of Ireland.Independent candidate Catherine Connolly has clarified her views on Hamas.Fianna Fáil’s candidate Jim Gavin has said that online claims about him are “obviously lies”.
Órla Ryan – 2 minutes ago
Ms Steen generated some momentum on Tuesday when four Independent Ireland TDs and Independents Marian Harkin and Danny Healy-Rae publicly said they would support her bid to get on the ballot, reports Cormac McQuinn.
She said last night that “good progress” was made on Tuesday telling RTÉ news: “I was at 12 this morning, and I’m now at 17 this afternoon, and I am hoping to get to 20 before the end of the evening.”
She did not reach that last night but said: “I’m happy to take a nomination from anybody who’s willing to give it to me, and I am available to talk to everybody and meet if they would like to.”
Órla Ryan – 19 minutes ago
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín – who has been spearheading efforts to generate Oireachtas nominations for Ms Steen – set out the very tight timescale left for her to secure nominations last night, Cormac McQuinn reports.
Mr Tóibín said he understood Ms Steen was still talking to a number of independents “and there’s a possibility that one or two might come on tonight and there’s rumblings that maybe some people in Fianna Fáil might like to add their names to it too”.
But he also told Virgin Media’s Tonight Show “people are leaving it late in the day”.
“She has to really have those [nominations] by 10:00 tomorrow.”
He added that she has an appointment to lodge nomination papers at the Custom House at 11am “so people need to make up their minds”.
Mr Tóibín also argued that there is a “democratic deficit” in the election currently with just three candidates formally in the race.
He said the two candidates for the Government parties are “very similar” and that Connolly is “a good candidate but she appeals to a certain demographic”.
However, he added that as things stood “there’s a whole section of Irish society who simply won’t have their voices heard in this election and won’t have a runner in the race and a bad thing for democracy.”
Órla Ryan – 21 minutes ago
At present there are just three candidates officially in the presidential election race – Heather Humphreys of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil’s Jim Gavin and left-wing independent TD Catherine Connolly.
Should Ms Steen fail to secure enough nominations, that would be the fewest number of candidates in a presidential election since 1990.
Órla Ryan – 26 minutes ago
Conservative campaigner Maria Steen is just two nominations away from having enough support to contest the presidential election after another Senator confirmed he will facilitate her entry into the race.
Independent Senator Aubrey McCarthy confirmed on Wednesday morning that he will nominate Ms Steen.
Ms Steen now has 18 of the 20 nominations from TDs and Senators she needs to get on the ballot paper, but time is running out.
The deadlines for nominations is noon and in reality Ms Steen needs to have the 20 signatures before then in order to have time to lodge papers at the Custom House.