{"id":286762,"date":"2026-02-08T04:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T04:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/286762\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T04:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T04:47:09","slug":"mairead-mcguinness-on-health-issues-that-prompted-presidential-election-withdrawal-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/286762\/","title":{"rendered":"Mairead McGuinness on health issues that prompted presidential election withdrawal \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former European commissioner Mairead McGuinness<\/a> has said she withdrew from last year\u2019s presidential election<\/a> campaign as a result of a severe bout of post-viral fatigue syndrome.<\/p>\n

The former MEP and broadcaster cited health reasons when she announced last August that she would not be contesting the election for Fine Gael<\/a>. <\/p>\n

She said the diagnosis came as \u201ca bolt from the blue\u201d and left her \u201cknocked sideways\u201d and with no choice other than to pull out of the campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery part of me, I wasn\u2019t well. I was physically drained. I had lost loads of weight. I wasn\u2019t sleeping, and it crept up in me very quickly,\u201d she said in an interview on RT\u00c9 Radio\u2019s Brendan O\u2019Connor show. <\/p>\n

McGuinness (66) also said she was shocked by rumours about her having a terminal illness and only months to live that circulated after she pulled out. She said she is feeling good now but was very weak at the time. <\/p>\n

Post-viral fatigue syndrome happens when people have an extended period of feeling unwell and fatigued after a viral infection. Other symptoms include brain fog and muscle pain that persist for weeks or months.<\/p>\n

Asked if she felt burnt out at that point, McGuinness replied: \u201cIt\u2019s a good description. It\u2019s almost as if every part of you is raw. You\u2019re not able to do normal things.\u201d <\/p>\n

She said she was advised to lay on the couch and \u201cwatch rubbish on TV\u201d, which was not something she was used to and found difficult. <\/p>\n

McGuinness said that having to withdraw was disappointing, but more so for those who had supported her during her more than 20 years in politics. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a great believer in what is for you won\u2019t pass you,\u201d she said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t cause me sleepless nights. That ship has passed.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0The winners and losers of the presidential electionOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

She said the experience has made her better able to say \u201cno\u201d than in the past. \u201cI now know that no is a full sentence.\u201d <\/p>\n

She said she feels \u201chale and hearty\u201d and that having a wake-up call was \u201cno harm\u201d. She said she realised she did not have to keep up the level of intensity at which she had been operating.<\/p>\n

McGuinness said it was difficult to not be able to say she was unwell to anyone for fear it would leak out and derail her campaign. \u201cI wasn\u2019t codding myself … I thought I was going to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

She ultimately informed Fine Gael of her health issue and wanted to inform her family, friends and former colleagues as she did not want them to \u201chear it on the radio\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I have ever been at that point before,\u201d she added. \u201cI was emaciated … I was eating but not eating … I was very, very tired.\u201d <\/p>\n

She said that when she told Fine Gael of her decision it was immediately accepted \u201conce they saw me actually and once they heard what I was facing from a health point of view\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrivately they must have been tearing their hair out but they were very good and very decent, as I expected they would be, because I think the one thing we all realise is that your health is your wealth and that at the end of the day, and I say this very philosophically, particularly in political circles, you\u2019re really important until you\u2019re gone. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if you\u2019re dropped, there\u2019s always somebody else so I had no sense that this is such a terrible thing to do, that I\u2019m irreplaceable. I really figured that the world keeps spinning.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGuinness said she followed the presidential campaign as it continued without her but only in the sense that it was central to the news agenda for much of the autumn. <\/p>\n

She described it as \u201ca hard one for the country\u201d but she downplayed the failure of Heather Humphries, the candidate who took up the mantle for Fine Gael.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeather is a very decent human being but what happened to Heather and her family around sectarian abuse is despicable and no one should have to go through that … I think it dragged us backwards not forwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGuinness said she did not expect she would run for political office again but did not fully rule out the possibility.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Social Democrats, Labour and the Greens have some serious thinking to doOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former European commissioner Mairead McGuinness has said she withdrew from last year\u2019s presidential election campaign as a result…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286763,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[3775,42,37801,43,978,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-286762","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-fine-gael","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-mairead-mcguinness","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-presidential-election","13":"tag-top-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topnews","16":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}