Report Paul Murphy
Controversial poll-topping Independent Senator Sharon Keogan is in an all-out fight to get give independent candidates onto the ticket for the upcoming Presidential election scheduled to take place on or up to 60 days before 11th November. Keogan (Slogan – Want it done. Keogan’s the One) will be working the phones, emails, WhatsApp and meeting places to persuade her strong network of independent councillors throughout the country to help get at least five named independent contenders onto the ballot paper. It is regarded as an uphill battle for independents – they have to get the support of four county or city councils or 20 Oireachtas members.
Although many councils are controlled by larger parties, there is also an overbearing optimism among potential independent candidates that democracy is best served by aiding people onto the ticket – that the Presidential election is the bedrock of democracy and should be facilitated. Others will say “The Presidentials” are as political as any other election and we will want our party political choice on the ticket – tough!
It will be interesting to see how Keogan will get along in her lobbying of Meath County Council (FG 11, Ind 11, FF 9, SF 6, Aon 2, Soc Dem 1 and Louth controlled by FF, FG and Lab – 22 out of 30 councillors). In a Meath Live interview with Sharon Keogan today she said she would be working all out over the coming weeks to ensure her candidates get all the support they need in order to be nominated. But
she stressed that she was not committed to any one of the five. “I am merely a facilitator, I won’t be favouring one candidate over another. I know what it’s like to be an independent – because they may not have a big party machine behind them it’s even more important that they get the kind of support that someone like me can offer”.
KEOGAN TRACK RECORD
Keogan herself has a track record in politics. She has served in the Seanad on the Vocational Panel since 2020. Earlier this year she was re-elected, heading the poll on the Industrial and Commercial Panel. She wouldn’t be insulted if she was classified as right-leaning in her politics but she has also emerged as a controversial figure, especially in some of her public pronouncements which saw her lambasted from all sides of the political spectrum.
She has a political record of representing the Laytown-Bettystown Electoral Area as an independent on Meath County Council between 2014-
2020. In the 2019 local elections she created a minor sensation by winning seats in both the Ashbourne Local Election Area and the Laytown-Bettystown LEA, becoming the first woman in Ireland to be elected to two electoral areas. Just like Frank Godfrey of Drogheda who won a seat in each of three wards in 1979, she found that she could not “give” her “spare” seat to a favoured relative or constituent. The rules state that a councillor cannot represent two electoral areas. (The traditional ward system in Drogheda was replaced with a simplified system for local elections from June 2009. The town went from a multi-ward system to a two-ward system and ultimately to a single six-seat area for elections, six on the North side of the Boyne and six on the South which fits in with the local parlance of each side calling the other The FAA Side!).
POTENTIAL CANDIDATES
So, who are the potential Presidential contenders Keogan will be trying to lever onto the ticket. In alphabetical order – Nick Delahunty, lawyer, campaigner and activist, ran unsuccessfully in 2024 local and general elections; Declan Ganley, entrepreneur, businessman and activist. A well-known public figure. Served two decades with the Defence Forces Reserve; Senator Aubrey McCarthy narrowly beat Green Party Hazel Chu for a seat in the Seanad election this year (Dublin University). He was founder of Tihlin, a charity providing housing, rehabilitation and education and employment services for homeless people affected by addiction. He was named as Irish Red Cross Humanitarian of the Year awardee in 2024; Gareth Sheridan is former CEO of US-based company Nutriband and at 35 would be our youngest ever President if he was elected. His company developed a system to change the way patches of painkillers, such as fentanyl and other opiates, work to reduce abuse and prevent risk of accidental exposure. He wants to transform global healthcare. He has been sending his book From No to NASDAQ to councillors around the country; Maria Steen , a qualified architect and barrister, is a conservative campaigner and member of the Iona Institute. She has campaigned against referendums on same-sex marriage and abortion. She and her husband are known for their home-schooling of their four children.
