I wonder will the likes of SF put forward a candidate and push for an election ?

Think there would be little appetite in the country for that I would think. 

Shedite wrote: Will be the usual bunch of loons and one or two up and coming politicians looking for a profile boost

You could say that about any Irish election. 

"Make Ireland Fair Again " is his campaign slogan. Wonder where he got his idea for that from.......

Yeah, he seems to have a very odd set of policies that leave him sitting somewhere between Panti Bliss and Stevie Lennon. An odd man.

He was on RTE giving out about foreigners and some tree hugger didn't know how to react.

Michael D 

Depends on who the politician is I suppose 

Would they not be entitled to change their mind too?

Public opinion is favourable, but he did represent something, and has acted in a differnt way. I suppose, I would be interested to see the reaction if other politicans held the office, and had made the same promise, only to go back on it later?

Don't think anyone really cares. We have never really had a divisive President in modern times (had a few divisive candidates alright) so if Pres. Higgins was some kind of obnoxious character, or had an upcoming appearance at a tribunal or something, and then decided to seek another term, it might be different. It might also be different if the sitting President had deep connections to the ruling Government party who happened to be in some kind of political bother at the time (say, if Labour were in charge and implementing a load of unpopular policies) but that isn't the case here either, in fact I'm not even sure the Labour party exist any more, I'll have to check & come back to ye. 

I think most see him at the very least as a very safe pair of hands. A few of our Presidents (Hillery & McAleese) were elected for a 2nd stint anyway, so its not groundbreaking stuff there either. No issue with him meself, as politicians go, he's far from the worst of them, he's a shrewd enough political operator, doesn't do anything stupid or controversial while representing us, seems to strike the right note of empathy with some of the marginalised sectors of our society and appears to be a genuine sports fan as well, as opposed to just pretending to be one like the majority of the chancers. 

Not for the first time, FF have seen the way the wind is blowing and rowed in fully behind him. The Shinners will probably have to wait for James McClean to retire, they could find any oul candidate that would attract their own vote and a few protest votes, but nobody to take on someone of Michael D's popularity. FG have never held the Presidency & if Leo has any sense at all (not sure on that) he'll stay well away from it too, there isn't anything to be gained by a likely defeat other than the other parties thinking they can then defeat them in the one that matters. 

Its not about not caring, but holding politicians to account for their promises and statements. It is saying one thing, and subsequently doing something else. If there was any doubt in his mind that he might run again, he should never have even ventured being a one-term president. And its not about being a two-termer. Its about being consistent.

I totally agree, that D Higgins has generally done well. There have been elements of his Presidency that I have not been entirely favourable to, but for the vast majority of it he has done an excellent job.

I'm also not sure whether the issue of being close to a ruling party is an issue. Otherwise, many top candidates wouldnt qualify in the first instance. Being close to the ruling party is irrelevant, especially as in a second term situation your independence would be much stronger than it was in the first instance, as you would be gone from the party for over seven years at that stage. 

Thats actually not a reason. It cant just be assumed that  popularity is such that another vote is pointless.

I disagree about the closeness of the candidate to the ruling party, the Brian Lenihan/Mary Robinson campaign in 1990 changed that for good. In that case, it messed up a candicacy rather than a Presidency, but even in the last campaign, Sean Gallagher's (had forgotten he was allegedly independent) candicacy was derailed by accusations he was close to the then toxic FF and may have been involved in an incident where some envelopes stuffed with money changed hands. 

Can't really prove that theory as neither got elected, and there were never such suggestions about Robinson, McAleese or Higgins, but those 2 elections were probably the only ones that happened in the same timeframe as political strife for FF was happening simultaneously, and it cost them both times. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to think that a similar scenario would have a negative effect on a sitting President, but that would obviously depend on the individual in office at the time, the party they belonged to and the role they played in whatever incident was exercising/annoying the public. 

I'm not assuming anything, merely predicting the chap will be re-elected, and one of the reasons he will be re-elected is the lack of suitable alternative candidates. The views on the alternatives are only my views, and it is a valid reason for me, whether you or anyone else agrees with that or not. 

Others will vote for him for any amount of reasons from his relationship with Galway FC or the fact he likes dogs, or the fact they are life long Labour voters. More will vote for one of those alternative candidates for reasons that will be alien to me, but that's the nature of elections. 

Just out of curiousity, what elements of his presidency were you not entirely favourable towards?  

I'm struggling to think of anything truly negative whether it's any polarizing views he may have or controversies he was involved in. 

You obviously didn't see the kid's test answers that did the rounds a few months back. 

It's very little, but I felt in his very early days his speeches occasionally veered on policy, which is not his remit. I was also not a fan of his statement after Castro's death, which I feel could have been better thought out and executed when there is a lot more to the legacy of Castro. He has certainly moved away from my first gripe a long time ago, to the point that it's no longer an issue.

But over the course of seven years it's hard to get everything right. I recall Mary McAleese's comments about Turkish entry to the EU. So like I said, it wouldn't bother me enough to stop me voting for him or accepting him as President in coronation situation.

Would still get a core FF vote, which thankfully is a lot less than it used to be these days, but overall, not a feckin chance that either FF would nominate him or he that would be elected. Any opposition would have an absolute field day asking him about bank accounts, money won on horses, the tribunals, the housing bubble, the recession, the banks etc etc, and FF would end up throwing him out of the party, sorry, getting him to 'resign' again. 

FG also behind Michael D and went as far as said they would campaign for him & all, looks like Leo (or at least his advisers) do have some bit of political sense after all. 

Boylan has said she won't run

 

SF candidate choice will be interesting some canon fodder names mentioned like lynn boylan, the ferri's, caomhain as well, jarry if he puts his name forward to SF would surely get the nomination

Before that, we have had ex GAA President Liam O'Neill rule himself out of the running (he was never in the running) and Senator Gerard Craughwell, whomever he may be, also drop out due to financial constraints, having got his 15 minutes of media exposure, probably mainly reminding whoever voted or nominated him for the Seanad in the first place that he still exists. Objective achieved. 

Gavan Duffy (another businessman who appeared on a TV programme), Joan Freeman (head of Pieta House charity) and some bucko called Patrick Feeney (I have no idea who he is or what he does) spoke in front of the council. One of the councillors accused Mr Feeney of being disrespectful, unimpressive & ill prepared in his approach. 

I occasionally read local newspaper reports of council meetings, and all I can say is this presentation must have been particularly poor in order to invoke the ire of one of the councillors, they'd be well used to listening to horrendous crap every week from, well, other councillors. One of his suggestions (I swear I'm not making this up) was to propose that Kate Bush have a series of concerts across the country. I'm not sure was this part of the actual manifesto or did he just throw it in as some class of random thing in the ''any other business'' category. What the notoriously reclusive Ms Bush would make of this suggestion wasn't entirely clear. 

His policies might be worth keeping an eye on if this is the standard of Day 1..............

If he is a fan of Kate Bush he is unlikely to give up anyway.  

 the old observation "Fr Ted is more of a documentary than a sitcom" comes to mind.

And still sexy! She has lived in Ireland for years.

Excuse my ignorance but what rumours? 

One of the most distinctive female singing voices there ever was. 

Being a broke student drinking cheap cans of Tuborg in the house with 'Sunset' playing in the background instead of bothering with the afternoon lectures . Great times  

He's a gangsta rapper with a crack habit.

If I post up the unsubstanstaited rumours on my own forum - hopefully a mod will delete the post  . you can pm if you want 

btw what is a shinner dinner? 

Religious undertones with pieta House too

One of the Waterford councillors challenged her on that at the meeting/presentation - asked if she would have any difficulty signing any abortion-related bill in to law. Her reply was that she respected the will of the people, and also that her daughter was a yes campaigner (without actually saying yes).  I think she would be more than leaning toward her niece Maria's view on these things alright. Presidential elections aren't the same without far right catholic fundamentalists, it may as well be written into the constitution that one of them has to run. 

It seems kind of counter intuitive that these right wing religious types have a link to Pieta House, a lot of em seem to be mental illness deniers too. 

A certain irony too, can there be a bigger mental illness than believing everything you are told to do by one of the world's most vile organisations?

 

When I read that a journalist called O'Doherty was going for it I was worried that it was going to be the Clarkson wannabe himself.

''Lord Trap Junior, why do you feel like you should be President?''

''Because I'm great. In fact I think I should get two presidential terms because I'm so great.''

Thankfully he made a bollix of himself last time around and derailed his campaign.

Liadh Ní Riada is favourite and she is absolute muck. Scum Fein wont poll more than 10-12% in this. 

We aint ready, to see a Sinn Fein president, uh

 

 

that **** seems to have his head stuck every ,so be no surprise if he did.