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Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > Periscope > Running for Irish President : A first endorsement and a strange new reality--- I'm an alien.

Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Running for Irish President : A first endorsement and a strange new reality--- I'm an alien.

Posted on Sunday, June 19, 2011 at 07:00 AM

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Dublin: I received my first endorsement for the presidential race on Saturday when Irish Independent columnist Liam Fay stated I should be elected.

The Independent is Ireland’s largest selling newspaper so it was gratifying to see an endorsement from one of their top columnists.

I don’t know Liam Fay except by reputation and he is a widely respected journalist but I never spoke to him or got his take on why he wanted to endorse me.

His main point was that most of the other candidates were totally compromised by their elected presence in Europe during the recent meltdown when they did nothing and at least I had a reputation for plain speaking and was in America while all this nonsense was going on.

He also stated that after the first debate when a whole lot of nothing went on, that I would provide an alternative voice, far removed from the status quo if I decided to run..

His viewpoint was also colored by my connections with leading figures in the Democratic Party including former president Bill Clinton which he believed could make for important linkages if elected president.

He wrote; "As an operator practised in the wheeling and dealing of American backroom politics, O'Dowd would be acutely aware of the importance of saying what you mean and meaning what you say. In other words, he speaks plain English which is more than can be said for most of the native contenders."

Mind you the headline writer punched a hole in my ego with the line ‘Time to put an alien in the Aras (Aras an Uachtarain is where the president resides)

This is part of this weird connotation over here that an Irish American is somehow from outer space in thinking of running for Irish president .

I am of Ireland, fiercely so , and resent any notion that there is anything alien in my connection to the land of my birth and where I lived 26 years of my life.

Nonetheless I have to accept that what I am doing strikes many here as passing strange.

In the past week I have had an all out attack on my potential candidacy from The Irish Times written by an obituary writer for the London Times attacking my Irish American identity and a supportive piece written by Liam Fay that celebrates my ‘alien’ status.

What to make of it all? Very little except keep putting one foot in front of the other and see where the road leads.

I am in Dublin for discussions with Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein to see if the potential is there for a total of twenty nominations from the respective parties in order to allow me into the election proper.

I have been encouraged by those who have said they will support me to date and will see where the road leads.
In the meantime I’ll try and get used to my alien status.

Now where can I park my spacecraft on O’Connell Street?

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WalterEllis | Jun 19, 2011, 05:25 PM EDT

Sorry, Antoman, but British obituary writers aren't allowed to stand. Nor can those who have [or have not] been promoted by the London Times as "some sort of prominent Irish American".

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antoman | Jun 19, 2011, 05:13 PM EDT

Walter Ellis for President of Ireland!!

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WalterEllis | Jun 19, 2011, 05:08 PM EDT

Just a few – a very few – of Georges's more recent comments on foreigners in Ireland (and the U.S): “I am in agreement with the 70% of Irish people who are opposed to the mass settlement of their homeland by foreigners.” “[The Saint Patrick's Day] parade in Dublin now is dominated by Pakistanis, Poles, Indians, Chinese and Africans. It has no element whatsoever of Irish history, music or language. I guess that's why an anti-Irish bigot such as you likes it.” “How could a sane person have any respect for people like you, antoman, who whine about being unemployable while they cheerlead the Fianna Fail policy of importing unlimited foreign labor into the country? Of course I have contempt for you, antoman, you're an imbecile.” “[Explain] to me why the clowns in Ireland have turned hospitality & tourism into an industry that's dominated by Eastern Europeans.” “[Trealach] …You want every Irish person to be given a work permit for the US? You've already given work and residence permits to countless millions of foreigners who can settle in Ireland whenever they choose, and you want us to repeat your mistake? Forget it, we Americans aren't goofs like you Irish.” "You Irish?" Get help, George.

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themurphia | Jun 19, 2011, 04:16 PM EDT

So George what was your contribution to the Peace Process...? What have you got to offer the Irish people/unemployed that Niall O'Dowd doesn't...? Are you a publisher who has built up a business that employs hundreds of people since arriving in America or are you just one of the Diasporate...? Maybe you have one of the top 100 businesses... No...? thought not...have a good look at yourself and ask yourself why you are criticising a man of actual achievement...Get a reality check...and while you're at it YOU withdraw your defamatory comments or I will have to join the list of posters complaining about your violent and gratuitously offensive comments...

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themurphia | Jun 19, 2011, 03:58 PM EDT

George: Get some anger management..Walter's invited you out for a drink TWICE what do you want dinner and a hotel...some might think you were projecting I couldn't possibly comment...Instead of ranting reread your posts about the Dublin Paddys Day parade and why you wouldn't walk in it...didn't someone say something about you being unemployable...wonder why...Hmmmm...????

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GeorgeDillon | Jun 19, 2011, 03:03 PM EDT

themurphia: Didn't you have an appointment with your psychiatrist this week? As to your stupid post, I will certainly defend myself against liars like Ellis who post dirty slurs and falsehoods about me. You may have no self-respect--I do. Try taking that self-esteem class the doc recommended.

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tullyallen | Jun 19, 2011, 03:03 PM EDT

We all get homesick from time to time . In Ireland and else where there is a law determining the minimum wage ,there isn't one for the maximum wage . The ratio between the Presidents salary and the minimum wage is 1 to 20 and that doesn't include expenses plus a residence . All at the peoples expense. Most politicians in Ireland are cute hoors living off the taxpayers back . Its a club. All the tra la la about the diaspora and what they'll do for Ireland is just spin. Like the rest of them you are after the cushiest job in the country. Of course if you want some credibility take a paycut on a ratio of lets be generous 1 to 10 .

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themurphia | Jun 19, 2011, 02:57 PM EDT

George:get some anger management...!

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GeorgeDillon | Jun 19, 2011, 02:14 PM EDT

Ellis, you're a stinking liar. You invent a quote that I complained about "the foreigners "polluting" Ireland." Retract that dirty lie and slur now, or show me where I have ever said what you viciously ascribe to me. You're a goddamn liar, Ellis, and a vile bigot too. Disgusting piece of vermin.

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KathyCallahan | Jun 19, 2011, 01:57 PM EDT

run Niall run and watch the opposition react as they wear it on their sleeve. It all makes for a great campaign on Ellis begrudging hack backside

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themurphia | Jun 19, 2011, 01:03 PM EDT

tullyallen:' a lien with any concerned parties' if that pun was intentional it was brilliant...if it wasn't intentional it was unintentioanlly brilliant....!

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themurphia | Jun 19, 2011, 12:48 PM EDT

Apart from 'alien' 'blow in' the other soubriquet you can look forward to is 'Returned Yank'...just thought I'd cheer you up..! Actually I think you're candidacy will really shake the 'race for the Park' up..shame there's no longer an actual race course in Phoenix Park...how cool would that be having all those thoroughbreds in your back garden...bliss!

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tullyallen | Jun 19, 2011, 12:47 PM EDT

Isn't his brother a Fine Gael T.D ?He defected from the Labour Party a few years ago. He picked the wrong side in the leadership dispute in Fine Gael between Bruton and Kenny. And now Niall O'Dowd is looking for the nomination from Fianna fail and Sinn Féin.! So this is the scenario. He wants us to percieve him as independent supported by Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein while his brother is a Minister of State. How could anyone claim to independent in a situation like that ? Even law courts don't recognise witnesses as independent if they have a lien with any concerned parties. I think it was Abraham Lincoln who said "You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time . But you can't fool all of the people all of the time.

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WalterEllis | Jun 19, 2011, 12:16 PM EDT

George: As I have written several times (sadly, you don't read, you only react), I have held an Irish passport since 1974. I spent years working in Ireland, north and south of the Border, for the (then) Cork Examiner and Irish Times – this as an Ulster Prod and therefore, in the words of the Proclamation of 1916, one of the Children of he Nation, to be cherished equally with all the rest. My grandparents were from Sligo, Leitrim, Down and Antrim. I have written a memoir about growing up in Ireland. My present publisher is Irish. In short, I am, for all my faults, Irish. The fact that I grew up in Northern Ireland means that I also have a British aspect – just as Niall, for example, has an American aspect. One need not cancel out the other. You have many times labelled me an "anti-Irish bigot," usually in the context of your misperception of me or else, ironically, in the course of one of your diatribes against the foreigners "polluting" Ireland. I think it would be nice if you could learn to think before you write, but I hold out no great hopes. Instead, I fully expect you to denounce me yet again. Indeed, already I can hear your gorge rising and the scratching of your quill.

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GeorgeDillon | Jun 19, 2011, 11:51 AM EDT

kinvara: Once again you write without using any of your remaining brain cells. How do you know this guy Ellis even WANTS "inclusion to the Irish family"? Does he hold an Irish passport? Do you even know, or did you just post again without thinking?

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