Former RTÉ weather forecaster Joanna Donnelly has announced that she will seek to run in next month’s presidential election.
She will need the backing of four county councils to get on the ballot paper. Ms Donnelly told RTÉ’s Drivetime that she wanted to contest the election, saying she was worthy.
Ms Donnelly said she had contacted every council “because I have no reason to believe that anybody would actually take this seriously, so I just threw the net wide”.
Her name is on a list to present at a Dublin City Council meeting on September 15.
The meteorologist was unable to say how she might fund a campaign run, adding that “I could do the job, I couldn’t necessarily do the campaign”.
Ms Donnelly said she does not have a team in place to run her campaign and simply emailed councils just before midnight on Monday, “expecting nothing whatsoever” but wants to give the Irish people the option to vote for her.
“I know that I am worthy. I just don’t know that I have the savvy, or the political skills, or the campaign manager, or the PR, in order to show everybody else that I am worthy,” she said.
The Dubliner said she has always been “non-political” but would consider accepting a nomination from a party if it came.
In an effort to shed light on her political stance, Ms Donnelly said: “I think I am well in the middle. I think for most people, and certainly most Europeans, we have left thoughts and we have right thoughts and those coexist very equally together, very easily together.”
When asked whether she was pro-European Union, Ms Donnelly said that everyone “should always question everything” before raising the ongoing issue in Gaza, stating that when you “follow the money, you will find the motivators” of most global conflicts.
It is understood that she wrote to councils on Monday evening seeking to present to them.
The election is set to take place on October 24.
Earlier today, former minister and TD for Cavan-Monaghan Heather Humphreys became the second confirmed candidate in the race and will join Independent TD Catherine Connolly on the ballot paper in next month’s election.
Fine Gael confirmed that Ms Humphreys had reached the required threshold for nomination. She will be ratified as a candidate on Saturday, September 13.
Fianna Fáil will meet in Leinster House next Tuesday to discuss its candidate, with former Dublin GAA manager Jim Gavin and MEP Billy Kelleher both expected to receive enough support to present to the party. A secret ballot will then take place.
Sinn Féin, meanwhile, will discuss the election as its parliamentary party meets for its two-day think-in in Dublin next Monday and Tuesday. The ard comhairle will then meet to decide whether the party will run its own candidate or back another one.