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David Norris leads Irish presidential race with Martin McGuinness in third place

New poll shows very close race for presidency as bitter campaign heats up

CATHAL DERVAN,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Sunday, September 25, 2011, 7:41 AM

Updated Tuesday, August 14, 2012, 10:37 AM

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David Norris

David Norris still leads in the Irish presidential race, according to a new poll that also shows Martin McGuinness in third place.

Norris's plans to run in the election received a significant boost when Senator Shane Ross agreed to back his nomination leaving him only 2 votes shy of the twenty Irish parliament and senate votes he needs to run.

The Sunday Business Post opinion poll, assuming Norris is in the race, showed him at 21 percent with Micheal D. Higgins of Labor at 18 percent and Martin McGuinness with 16 percent.

Independent candidate Mary Davis and Fine Gael candidate Gay Mitchell were next with 13 percent.

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McGuinness will be pleased with his initial poll numbers, making it clear that the First Deputy Minister for Northern Ireland enjoys significant backing in the Irish Republic.

McGuinness was targeted by Fine Gael candidate Gay Mitchell over the weekend.

Mitchell told the Sunday Independent: “I joined Fine Gael in 1969 as a boy and have spent my entire career defending the State, not the ‘26 counties’ as Martin McGuinness calls it.

“I’m not prepared to cede pre-eminent leadership of the State to a Manchurian candidate.

“Article 13 of the constitution vests supreme command of the Defence Forces in the President. Section 17.1 of the 1954 Defence Act, under the heading ‘military command’, states that ‘under the direction of the President and subject to the provisions of this act’, executive and administrative powers are exercisable by the government and Minister for Defence.

“The President has a constitutional and statutory role in the military command. Mr McGuinness would not be allowed such a role North of the Border. The people of this sovereign State need to think very hard before conferring such a role here.”

Mitchell also claimed that economic reasons should turn the electorate against McGuinness.

“At a time of international financial turmoil people needed to be very careful,” added Mitchell.

“Electing a representative of a party which espouses the crazy policies which SF do would send a dangerous message, and could drive foreign investors elsewhere.”

McGuinness responded to the latest criticism by saying: “I have no intention of engaging in petty attacks on fellow candidates for the Aras.

“I am a unifier: I have fought many election campaigns and I have never engaged in negative campaigning or in petty attacks on fellow candidates. I do not intend to change that approach now as we face into the presidential campaign.”

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4 Comments

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tullyallen | Oct 02, 2011, 05:56 AM EDT

Norris is a bore

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cuddlybuddly | Sep 26, 2011, 07:44 AM EDT

A camp President with a shady past...would be a perfect representation of this country!

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cuddlybuddly | Sep 25, 2011, 07:18 PM EDT

Sometimes I think that we've gone completely mad. For more than 30 years Martin McGuinness was a senior member of one of the most ruthless and brutal terrorist organizations in the history. As a member of the IRA Army Council which issued kill orders he was directly responsible for hundreds of murders, assassinations and deadly bombings. Most victims were Irish, many were Catholic and some were members of the Irish Defence Forces and Garda Siochana. Gerry Adams'Sinn Fein and the IRA did not acknowledge the legitimacy of the Irish Republic and vowed to abolish it, while regularly denouncing the Irish government. Now Adams sits in Dail Eireann and Martin McGuinness hopes to assume the most respected, honored and prestigious political office in the country. And continues to lie daily about his very bloody past. This is lunacy defined. Should McGuinness be elected, Ireland's stature worldwide would be greatly diminished. And it would be a kick in the gut to our closest neighbor and largest/most important trading partner - and, yes, a friend that has spoken out in defense of Ireland when it was being clobbered in Paris, Brussels and Berlin. Ireland must look to the future. McGuinness represents a past that we must get over. In the end, I hope that sanity will prevail.

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antoman | Sep 25, 2011, 09:38 AM EDT

Who conducts these polls? I have'nt been approached on the street or my door step and asked to participate in a poll. Sure if any one came to door, like most people in Ireland now. You'd be hiding behind the couch thinking its the TV license inspector. Or a desperate Fianna Failer. I'd say some bloke in an office just pretends to have asked a 1000 people and so its his own poll. I would'nt put much stock in these polls people. Most days its too wet to be stood in the street polling people and no one has ever encountered the people that gather this data which ends up in news articles. In reality it must be a lonely bloke in an office and his opinion, and not that of the populace.

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gobdawpaddy | Sep 25, 2011, 09:24 AM EDT

Just off the phone with a fellow Irish - American friend. He is amused at the wole Irish presidential election. You have David Norris who interfered in the Israeli justice system on behalf of a convicted rapist. You have a bunch of hitherto unknowns with the exception of Michael D. andnow you have a former terrorist and terrorist apologist Martin McGuinness (my friend believes 'there are enough bogmuckers in Ireland to elect that f****r'. The candidates want to 'discuss the issues'. What issues ? The Irish president can't scratch his or her backside without first requesting the permission of the government. The office has no power. The president is the 'Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces'....HA, Dads Army. This is the crowd that are suing the Irish government because they are going deaf from firing guns. These gombeen people didn't realize that when they joined the army, they might have to fire a gun. What a joke. Ireland cannot afford the presidency right now and instead of an election, Ireland should be holding a referendum to abolish this useless, expensive office.

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