Former presidential hopeful Gareth Sheridan has criticised the presidential nomination process, calling it unfit for purpose and in need of review.
While appearing on RTÉ’s Brendan O’Connor radio show, he described his experience of travelling to county councils across Ireland to seek a nomination, reports RTE.
He claimed that Fianna Fáil councillors were more discreet in how they enforced a party directive against independent hopefuls.
“It definitely happened, I can say that”, reports RTE.
Mr Sheridan warned that it is “a dangerous position” if only party-affiliated candidates are able to run in future elections.
The businessman, who attempted to secure an independent nomination for the presidential election but was unsuccessful, pointed out that it has been half a century since there were only two candidates on a presidential ballot, reports RTE.
“The electorate deserve to have a wider choice of candidates” and the position of president is for the people of Ireland to decide.
“It shouldn’t be dictated just from within the walls of Leinster House. That’s an unfortunate outcome in this election”, reports RTE.
“I’d love to be in. I was wholeheartedly involved and had put a year into it, I had been meeting and building those relationships. I was competing to compete and I just think it’s a little bit underwhelming now that we only have two candidates,” he said, reports RTE.
Mr Sheridan insisted he is “not bitter” about missing out on a nomination, but admitted he found the online abuse during his short campaign “troubling”.
He said that although he anticipated criticism and was ready for it, the level of online harassment and smearing was difficult. He revealed that some personal attacks on X involved his young daughter, who is just three years old, reports RTE.
He alleged that many of the abusive posts came from newly created bot accounts with no followers, and called for stronger oversight in this area.
He described this element of the campaign as deeply concerning and said stricter regulation is needed, reports RTE.
Regarding his political future, Mr Sheridan said he has not made any firm decisions and remains open to either national or local politics.
He noted that no political party has formally reached out to him, reports RTE.
“It would be difficult to face such a block, and then go represent the same party that blocked. I’m open to everything and I’m not bitter about it,” he said, reports RTE.
He reaffirmed that he would “love to be in” the race for head of State, and remarked that in his view, the current campaign is “underwhelming”.
He also criticised Fianna Fáil’s choice of Jim Gavin as their candidate, calling the selection process “messy” and “all over the place”, reports RTE.
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