Gareth Sheridan has secured Kerry County Council’s nomination in his bid to contest the Presidential Election.
Mr Sheridan, a businessman and entrepreneur, now requires a nomination from three more local authorities in order to have his name on the ballot paper on 24 October.
After much debate at this morning’s monthly meeting of the local authority, a majority of councillors first voted that they would give their backing to a presidential hopeful, instead of opting not to make a nomination.
Fine Gael councillor Bobby O’Connell had proposed that the council should not make any nomination and this was seconded by Fianna Fáil’s Norma Moriarty.
However, a counter-proposal that the council should give its backing to a presidential hopeful was put forward by Independent Charlie Farrelly and seconded by Deirdre Ferris of Sinn Féin.
Ultimately, 18 councillors voted to make a nomination while 14 voted against. One of the council’s 33 councillors was absent.
The votes came from 12 Independents, four Sinn Féin councillors and two Labour councillors.
Mr Sheridan’s candidacy was then proposed by Independent Killarney councillor Niall ‘Botty’ O’Callaghan and seconded by fellow Independent councillor Martin Grady.
As there was only one candidate put forward for one position, Mr Sheridan was then deemed to have received Kerry County Council’s nomination.
He will address Laois County Council this afternoon and Tipperary councillors tomorrow.
It comes as MMA fighter Conor McGregor announced he has withdrawn his bid to run in the upcoming Presidential Election.
He had been seeking a nomination from local authorities to get on the ballot paper.
A number of local authorities are meeting today to hear from potential presidential candidates.
Nick Delehanty is likely to speak at the council meetings in Westmeath, Roscommon and Galway, while Maria Steen will make her pitch in Longford and Dublin City.
To be eligible to run, a candidate must be nominated either by 20 members of the Oireachtas or four local authorities. They must also be an Irish citizen over the age of 35.
Former government minister Heather Humphreys is running for Fine Gael in the Presidential Election while ex-Dublin Gaelic football manager Jim Gavin is the Fianna Fáil candidate. Mr Gavin is due to attend a parliamentary party meeting in Cork today.
Yesterday, Independent presidential candidate Catherine Connolly said she would be “delighted” if Sinn Féin backed her campaign, when it clarifies its position next Saturday.
Ms Connolly currently has the backing of the Social Democrats, Labour, People Before Profit-Solidarity and some Independents.