Conor McGregor is not yet listed among the independents who will address Dublin City Council next week in a bid to obtain its nomination for the presidency.
The former MMA fighter has written to the council asking to address it next Monday but has not yet confirmed his eligibility to the council according to an email sent to councillors on Wednesday.
Dublin City Council has asked all prospective candidates to prove their eligibility to become president before accepting their requests.
Mr McGregor’s application was in before the deadline and he can prove his eligibility before Monday, it is understood.
Mr McGregor, who in July lost his appeal against a High Court jury’s finding that he was civilly liable for the assault of Nikita Hand, has repeatedly indicated he wants to contest the election.
He has written to a number of councils including Tipperary asking to be allowed to address councillors.
Dublin Bay South byelection candidate Dolores Cahill being refused entry to the count centre at the RDS in 2021 for refusing to wear a face mask. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins
There are 10 confirmed candidates for the Monday meeting, including former professor at UCD Dolores Cahill who in 2021 was fined £2,500 (€2,900) for holding an anti-lockdown protest in London in “flagrant breach” of covid restrictions.
Fianna Fáil will not block its councillors from backing independent presidential candidates, but has asked them to “do everything they can” to get Jim Gavin elected.
The party’s Ard Comhairle decided not to whip its councillors in their respective votes at council level, but has given what a senior source said was a “nudge” to work to see the former Dublin GAA boss elected.
A source said that the party “trusts” its councillors, but that they can “do as they please” with regard to any candidate who comes before a council meeting.
Another source said that while the party will not stop councillors from voting for an independent candidate, there is a sense that the request to “do everything” to see Mr Gavin elected is, in effect, “a clear enough ask” and there is no sense that many councillors want to back a non-Fianna Fáil candidate.
Cork City councillor Tony Fitzgerald said Fianna Fáil councillors have not met to discuss the party’s meeting on Monday which will hear from independents, but said he would not support another candidate.
“We have a player on the pitch, why would we put another on?”
Meanwhile, a number of Sinn Féin TDs believe the party should back Catherine Connolly in a bid to unite the left-wing.
The party will decide next week whether to enter the race or to back the Galway West Independent TD who has asked Sinn Féin to support her.
Earlier this week, party leader Mary Lou McDonald ruled herself out as a potential candidate and a number of party sources now believe that supporting Ms Connolly is the best course of action.