Martin McGuinness President of Ireland

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News on Martin McGuinness running for President of Ireland.
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Until now we had very dull candidates, nothing of note except for the David Norris letter scandal. Someone found some letters that showed Norris was using his position to request leniency for his foreign boyfriend. Norris boyfriend was convicted of crimes against a child.
Like him or not, at least Martin McGuinness is for Ireland and the Irish. Not sure all of the others are, some more interested in Europe.
This will make people interested in the Irish Presidency.

This is how the news papers are reporting Martin McGuinness running to be the next President of Ireland.
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RTE
Sinn Féin is expected to put Martin McGuinness forward as its candidate in the Presidential election.
The move has been approved by the party's officer board and is expected to be ratified at a meeting of the party's Ard Comhairle on Sunday.
It is understood the decision was mulled over at the highest ranks within Sinn Féin for several weeks.
The Derry born 61-year-old has been in the United States since Sunday with the north of Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson and will not return until tomorrow.
He has had a number of transatlantic calls with Gerry Adams and others and that is how he confirmed his availability to contest the election.
It is understood that Mr McGuinness told Mr Robinson of his intention to step aside from his position in the the north of Ireland executive in order to contest the Presidential election.
Sinn Féin will likely appoint someone to temporarily fill the vacancy and then review the situation after the election.
Last year Mr Robinson temporarily stood down from his role as first minister to address charges of financial irregularities.
He was replaced by party colleague Arlene Foster and returned to his first minister position after six weeks.
"This is a time of great challenge for all the people of Ireland. We need positive but authentic leadership. It will be a great honour for me to propose Martin McGuinness to contest this election on a broad, republican, citizen-centred platform," said Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams this evening.
"I believe that this election will give Martin the platform to continue the work which he has led in the North and in the peace process and to put it on a national footing."
Elsewhere, Senator David Norris is to appear on The Late Late Show on RTÉ tonight to discuss his renewed attempts to secure a nomination.
Mr Norris reactivated his attempts to secure a nomination by meeting Independent TDs yesterday.
He pulled out of the race in August over the controversy concerning his former partner Ezra Nawi.
The Fianna Fáil parliamentary party is to decide on Tuesday whether to allow TDs and Senators to nominate candidates.
Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú sought support from his colleagues to run as an Independent.
Speaking on Morning Ireland, Senator Ó Murchú said that he decided to run because he "felt that the actual campaign was turning into a circus."
The Co Tipperary native said that he had been approached during the summer about running, but a more substantive effort was made to put him forward last week.
"Last week then I had some approaches from people, both inside and outside Fianna Fáil, asking me to go forward because they felt the more representative views that were brought forward in the campaign, the more beneficial that would be to the office of the Presidency," Mr Ó Murchú said.
When asked why he was opting to run as an Independent rather than under the Fianna Fáil banner, he said that Fianna Fáil had already made a decision not to nominate a candidate. Mr Ó Murchú said that decision could not be reversed.
The backing of 20 members of the Oireachtas is needed to get on the Presidential ballot paper, which makes the signatures of the 33 Fianna Fáil TDs and Senators very valuable indeed.
The party will not be nominating a candidate of its own, but now it is coming under pressure to use those signatures to nominate Independent candidates.
Fine Gael's Gay Mitchell, Labour's Michael D Higgins and Independents Mary Davis and Sean Gallagher have been confirmed as candidates.
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(Reuters) - Former Irish Republican Army (IRA) guerrilla Martin McGuinness will be put forward by Sinn Fein to run for president of the Republic of Ireland, confirming the party's entry into mainstream politics north and south of the border.
The current deputy first minister of the north of Ireland received Sinn Fein leadership backing on Friday for the October 27 poll, paving the way for the former political wing of the IRA to contest its first ever election for the figurehead role.

Known internationally for its campaign against British rule during decades of Northern Irish violence, the left-wing party has picked up political momentum through its sharing of power north of the border, and a trebling of its presence in the southern parliament.

"A number of options were under discussion, including the one which has been now favoured by the officer board and is going for the approval of the Ard Chomhairle (national executive) on Sunday morning and that is to stand Martin McGuinness as the candidate," Sinn Fein lawmaker Pearse Doherty told national broadcaster RTE.

An organisation whose members were banned from speaking on Irish media until 1993, Sinn Fein is now the second-largest opposition party in Ireland and the staunchest critic of Prime Minister Enda Kenny's coalition government.

While the role is chiefly ceremonial, Ireland's president has the right to refer legislation to the Supreme Court, presenting potential difficulties for Kenny should McGuinness get elected.

As a resident of the north of Ireland, McGuinness can hold both Irish and British passports. Deputy first minister since 2007, he joined the IRA at the age of 20 as the guerrilla group began its 30-year campaign against British rule, swiftly rising to become a senior commander.

Along with party leader Gerry Adams, he was instrumental in transforming Sinn Fein into the north of Ireland's most powerful nationalist group and played a central role in talks leading to a 1998 peace deal that mostly ended the bloody period.

"GAME CHANGER"

Once McGuinness' candidacy is rubber-stamped by the party's national executive, he must gain the backing of 20 parliamentary members of the Republic of Ireland's upper and lower chambers to add his name to the ticket.

Sinn Fein has 17 deputies in both chambers, meaning McGuinness would need three more votes to join the race. He would then temporarily stand down as deputy first minister for the duration of the campaign, Sinn Fein said.

Irish bookmaker Paddy Power ranked McGuinness as third favourite to win the election behind Gay Mitchell, candidate for Kenny's Fine Gael party and front-runner Michael D. Higgins who is representing the junior government Labour Party.

David Norris, a gay senator who was the original favourite to win the election, quit in August after admitting he used his office to plead for clemency for a friend convicted of having sex with a minor.

With Irish presidential campaigns renowned for being notoriously unpleasant affairs, analysts said McGuinness' past would be scrutinised by local media.

"It's a game changer because this is now going to be a fascinating, dramatic and dirty election campaign," political analyst and barrister Noel Whelan said.

"Martin McGuinness is nationalist the north of Ireland's political hero but he's a very divisive figure in the Republic and Sinn Fein are a divisive political entity."
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Sophie Hares)
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Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness is to bid to become president of Ireland in a dramatic move that has stunned Irish politics.
The Deputy First Minister of the north of Ireland, who is a former IRA leader but who became a champion of the peace process, will be formally endorsed by his party leadership over the weekend.

The decision is already being billed as the republican movement's most audacious political move since IRA prisoner Bobby Sands was elected an MP while on prison hungerstrike in 1981.

It is understood party strategists believe that taking part in the campaign ahead of the October polling day will help raise the profile of Sinn Fein, regardless of the result, at a time when it wants to build on its gains south of the Irish border.

But party leader Gerry Adams said Sinn Fein wants to provide a real choice in the election for the Republic's head of state and believes Mr McGuinness could be "the people's president".

Mr Adams said: "I believe that this election will give Martin the platform to continue the work which he has led in the North and in the peace process and to put it on a national footing. I believe he can be the people's president.

"If elected he will draw the average industrial wage. He will dedicate himself to a genuine national reconciliation and the unity of our people. He will personify hope in the great genius and integrity of all the people of this island - Catholics, Protestants and dissenters."

Independents Mary Davis and Sean Gallagher officially became candidates on Monday after each secured the necessary support. They are on course to fight it out with frontrunner Labour's Michael D Higgins and Fine Gael's Gay Mitchell.

Sinn Fein secured 14 seats in the Dail in the last general election, more than tripling its strength. It also took three seats in the Irish senate. The support of 20 members of the two Houses is required to mount a presidential bid, but sources confirmed Sinn Fein has secured the necessary additional backing.

Commentators had feared a lack-lustre campaign, but the Sinn Fein move is seen to have cranked-up the contest. The decision to throw Mr McGuinness's name into the race presents Sinn Fein with the tantalising prospect of the top republican holding the office in 2016, the centenary of Ireland's 1916 Easter Rising against British rule. The party will, however, be billed as outsiders in the fight for the presidency.
belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/republic-of-ireland/mcguinness-to-run-for-president-16050845.html

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Martin McGuinness President of Ireland

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