by Tom Reddy
The web site www.thejournal.ie carried a minute-by-minute blog of what the candidates said and the site moderator’s comments on their remarks.
The final question was picked up in the following day’s papers for its novelty value. ‘At a social gathering, what’s your party piece?’ they were asked. Gallagher didn’t get the switch in mood, lamenting not being able to sing or play an instrument, and said his party piece was his character, interaction and connecting with people.
Norris said he wouldn’t offer any poetry or Joyce but would play the piano—Chopin or ragtime. Mitchell said he usually sang a verse of a song, while Dana admitted singing ‘All Kinds of Everything’—but everyone sings it together, she said. McGuinness said he recited his own poetry. Higgins, already known for his poetry, said it wasn’t his practice to read his own poems, but he hoped to release all the stories he’d collected over his life at some time in the future. Davis revealed that she loves karaoke and that she also juggles.
It had been a day of juggling for Davis, with a visit earlier in the day to the Summerhill Community Centre, where she addressed the 250 ‘third-agers’ and had a quick waltz at their tea dance. Then it was on to a canvass in Navan and a quick return to home in Sutton, Co. Dublin, where her husband blew out candles on his birthday cake, before travelling to Connemara.
Late that Tuesday night Dana, her brother Gerald Brown, her cousin and her husband were driving back to Dublin from the Landmark Hotel in Carrick-on-Shannon. Dana was asleep in the back seat when a tyre blew out on the M4 motorway near Kilcock, Co. Kildare. Numerous punctures were visible on the outside tyre rim when the AA arrived. Dana’s husband claimed that their car had been deliberately damaged in an attempt to ‘injure or murder us,’ and her solicitors lodged a complaint of criminal damage with the Gardaí. ‘It was very, very scary to look at,’ she said. ‘As far as I am concerned it was a very, very lucky escape. I never start a journey without saying a little prayer, and I think we are all very lucky.’
Damien Scallon, who was driving, said, ‘When you see the tyre it kind of sends home to us what they were trying to do. Injure us or murder us? Along with that they could have killed someone else.’ He had wrestled with the steering-wheel to avoid a lorry in front of them and a car behind before managing to stop safely on the hard shoulder.
The Gardaí would submit the tyre to scientific examination. However, tyre experts shown photographs by reporters said they believed it had suffered a casing break-up, which is caused by the tyre being driven for a while with a puncture.
The following day’s Irish Independent and Irish Times paid attention to Gallagher’s business dealings and his exclusive claim among his fellow-candidates to be an entrepreneur. Only two of the eleven firms promised investment on television by Gallagher on ‘Dragons’ Den’ received the agreed funds, said the Irish Independent. Five firms received investment from Gallagher totalling approximately €100,000, whereas on television he had offered more than €220,000. His spokesperson explained: ‘It can happen that the contestant or dragon withdraws the offer when all the contractual details, obligations and financial commitments, due diligence, figures, projections and business plans are examined.’
The Irish Times reported that Business Expansion Scheme investors in Gallagher’s company Smarthomes two years earlier were told in a letter that income would grow to €10 million in 2011 and 2012, as the company was confident that profits could be increased to 20 per cent by entering a distribution agreement with an American transnational corporation. It was indicative of the type of scrutiny Gallagher and others would come under as the pressure-cooker of a presidential election began to reach boiling point.
On Thursday the 20th the Irish Independent led with an explosive story that would dominate the tone and content of future debates. The headlines read: ‘Gallagher linked to secret FF fundraiser’ and ‘Business friends paid €5,000 to dine with Cowen’. The paper’s political editor, Fionnan Sheahan, reported that Gallagher
personally invited donors to attend a secret Fianna Fail corporate fundraiser for former Taoiseach Brian Cowen. Mr Gallagher contacted a number of his business friends to invite them to attend the dinner, where guests were asked to donate up to €5,000 to the party.
Mr Gallagher’s claims to be an independent will be damaged by the revelations.
Later that day the Evening Herald trumpeted the first interview with the woman behind Seán Gallagher. ‘I want to have children in the Áras’, said the huge front-page headline, referring to an interview inside the paper with Gallagher’s wife, Trish. The 37-year-old from Kanturk, Co. Cork, who has been dubbed Gallagher’s ‘secret weapon’, was conditioned for the gruelling campaign trail as she travelled five days a week throughout Munster, living out of a suitcase, as a sales rep for Vichy Skincare. She was a former sports instructor, and one of two girls and five boys brought up on the family farm.
We would both love it if we were blessed with children. If it happened it would be great, no matter where—at the Áras or anywhere else—it would be just wonderful to be parents and have children.
I think we definitely want to have more than one child. Maybe two. Maybe three.
Gallagher had been married before, but that marriage ended in 1999. Trish had been suggested to him as a possible date by a friend; he rang her twice to convince her to meet him; they did, and they ‘clicked’ as soulmates, she said. ‘I think it was one of the first things that we both said to each other, that we had both found our soulmate—it was lovely,’ she said.
The possible patter of tiny feet in Áras an Uachtaráin would become the source of humour in the media as the reference was facetiously transferred to the diminutive candidate Michael D. Higgins.
The Herald’s editorial that day put important things in perspective.
Show a bit of sympathy for the young girls—and boys—gutted today over the news of the break up of Westlife. The massively successful band has provided the soundtrack to their teenage years. That’s something that stays with a person forever. Parents and grandparents should think back to how they felt when their favourite, whether it was the Beatles or Take That, broke up.
The bookies Boylesports took a decision to pay out on the bets already placed on Higgins. ‘He has it in the bag, despite it being an extremely close race,’ said their spokesperson, Leon Blanche, who said that the pay-out would cost them €125,000.
This is possibly the most volatile market we’ve seen in years, with so many twists and turns. The majority of punters have stuck to their guns and backed Michael D. Higgins. We’ve paid out early before and are yet to get it wrong, so let’s hope this prediction works in our favour once more.
They still quoted odds for punters, putting Higgins as favourite at 1 to 3, Gallagher as runner-up at 2 to 1, McGuinness at 25 to 1, Mitchell 40 to 1, Norris 66 to 1, Davis 100 to 1 and Dana at 250 to 1.
Paddy Power had also cut the odds on Higgins, making him favourite at 2 to 7, Gallagher 9 to 4 and McGuinness 25 to 1.
Gallagher meanwhile was answering questions about the Dundalk fundraiser. He told Michael Brennan of the Irish Independent that he was a ‘grass-roots’ member of Fianna Fáil and had not given any personal donation at the fund-raiser. He had not asked any of the guests for money. ‘No, I didn’t. I was asked if I would let local business people know that the event as on, which I did. But I collected no money.’
Meanwhile in Limerick, on the campaign trail with Mitchell, Enda Kenny popped in to the Ann Summers shop in Cruise’s Street, having just canvassed Mass-goers at the city’s Augustinian Church. The Fine Gael handler Vincent Gribbin did his best to divert the Taoiseach, but Mitchell led the way, followed by his wife and Kenny. A roar of approval went up from their supporters, including Kieran O’Donnell TD and the former MEP John Cushnahan. There was no-one in the shop except for one staff member, Debbie Cropper. Seán Curtin from Press 22 got a picture of a grinning Taoiseach in the shop, and afterwards Cropper said that they were the first politicians to
canvass here and that she would give Mitchell her vote. ‘I’ve never seen a Taoiseach in a place like this before,’ she said.
The Limerick Leader published a brave questioning statement issued by Anne McCabe, widow of Detective-Garda Jerry McCabe, who was shot dead by the Provisional IRA during an armed robbery in 1996, saying that McGuinness met her husband’s killer in an IRA safe house.
When Kevin Walsh, the ringleader of the Sinn Fein IRA volunteers convicted of killing my husband, Detective Garda Jerry McCabe, in Adare on June 7, 1996, was released from Castlerea Prison our family attempted to move on as best we could with our lives.
Since that morning when the last of the murderers was freed into the waiting arms of Sinn Fein TD Martin Ferris we have refrained from any public comment concerning the political affairs of the State my husband died defending from the terror gangs of the Provisional IRA.
Now we feel we must break that silence to raise our concerns about the course of the current presidential election campaign, and specifically address matters that have arisen in the public domain regarding the knowledge and activities of Martin McGuinness in relation to those who perpetrated the murder of my husband and those individuals the Garda Siochana are still seeking to interview about that cowardly crime. In doing so we wish to endorse the courageous interventions of the Kelly, Hand, Stack and Clerkin families who still like us seek to have all of the IRA murderers involved in the killing of their loved ones brought to justice.
We know that the Garda Siochana believe that Martin McGuinness visited Kevin Walsh while he was hiding in a safe house in County Cavan. For what purpose did Mr McGuinness meet the killer of Jerry McCabe? Why did he not prevail upon Mr Walsh to hand himself in? Why did he fail to alert the Garda Siochana about the whereabouts of the man who was at the top of the most wanted list in this Republic?
The gardai believe that Mr McGuinness was a senior member of the Provisional IRA’s Army Council for many years. This sinister body he regards as the legitimate government of Ireland. This loyalty to a secret illegal army presumably was more important to Mr McGuinness than helping the Garda Siochana to solve a vicious murder. It is a loyalty that we believe is incompatible with the office of President of Ireland.
As a senior IRA man Mr McGuinness is aware that two members of the IRA are still being sought for the murder of Jerry McCabe. As David Kelly said last week in Athlone: ‘He knows who the killers of Recruit Garda Gary Sheehan and Private Paddy Kelly are.’ We believe he also knows the current whereabouts of Paul Damery, and Gerry Roche who have been on the wanted list by An Garda Siochana since June 1996.
Mr McGuinness and his colleagues in Sinn Fein organised a vigorous campaign for the early release of the prisoners who murdered Jerry McCabe and he stated that Detective Garda McCabe’s killers were ‘entitled to their freedom.’
The Irish people are being asked to choose a head of state next week. A vote for Martin McGuinness is a vote for a man who refuses to assist the security forces of this Republic with its investigations into the most serious crimes committed against servants of the State. We don’t believe this is an issue that can be ignored and brushed aside in the interests of ‘peace’. We call on all other candidates seeking the office of president to demand from Mr McGuinness that he cooperate with the police into its ongoing inquiries into the terrorist crimes that claimed the lives of servants of this Republic.
This election is as much about the moral duties of those who seek high office as it is about their vision for the presidency and Ireland’s future.
We want to move on and resume what passes for a normal life without a father and husband and brother. We can’t move on if Mr McGuinness assumes he can aspire to the symbolic status of first citizen without first discharging the most basic responsibility of any citizen. If Martin McGuinness cannot or will not assist the authorities with its investigations into the murders of police officers, soldiers and prison officers how can we expect the rule of law to prevail under his Presidency?
This is a moment of truth for all of us.
Martin McGuinness owes every voter the truth and his opponents should unequivocally demand that he come clean. Otherwise we will have one law for members of Sinn Fein IRA and another law for the rest of us. In such a scenario, should Mr McGuinness prevail, the constitutional integrity of the democratic institutions of the state will be grievously undermined.
In Limerick, Enda Kenny said the McCabe family deserved to know the truth. He urged that if ‘any of the candidates or anybody else who wants to stand by the profession of democratic politics’ knew anything about the whereabouts of Paul Damery or Gerry Roche (who fled the country after the attack) they should contact the Gardaí.
Canvassing in Cashel, Co. Tipperary, McGuinness said there was not a ‘smidgin’ of truth in the charge that he met Kevin Walsh or knew the whereabouts of either Damery or Roche. Of Anne McCabe he said, ‘My full sympathy goes to her. What happened to her and her family was totally unjustifiable, should never have happened. It was wrong and I unreservedly condemn it.’
On ‘Liveline’ the infamous interview Norris had given to Helen Lucy Burke for Magill in 2002 was broadcast. Norris said he had been given only thirty minutes’ notice that it was about to be broadcast, ‘even though RTE had the tapes for some days, I believe,’ and commented that he thought ‘the timing is interesting.’
Norris had challenged Burke to produce the tape during the summer, saying that his quotations had been taken out of context.
Norris said there was nothing new in the tape, and, unlike the previous storm, the ‘Liveline’ broadcast attracted little comment. Burke would subsequently say that she had found the tape recently but released it only in the last days of the campaign for ‘impact … It would give people something to think about when they went to the polls. It might incite people to vote for Norris or against Norris.’
Mary Davis had returned to canvas her home county of Mayo and visited a local radio station before calling to Maureen Walsh’s in Kiltimagh for tea and scones. Maureen had an oil painting of her son Louis in the living-room and a picture of Simon Cowell and the rest of the ‘X Factor’ team on the kitchen dresser. Then it was on to her old school in Kinaffe, where the children assembled to sing ‘The Green and Red of Mayo’ for her.
Saturday’s Irish Independent again featured Gallagher on the front page, reporting more of his financial affairs, stating that he shared in a payment of €860,000, made up of salaries, rent owed and royalties. The Smarthomes payment was made as the company was losing money at the height of the property crash. Siobhán Creaton and Cormac McQuinn reported seeing records that showed that Smarthomes benefited from grants from state agencies totalling €830,000. A spokesperson for Smarthomes commented:
The remuneration at the time for the directors was in line with the level of business the company was carrying out. The rent payable went to pay a mortgage on the building and was in line with rents in Co. Louth. The patents payable are in line with legal advice.
Inside the paper there was another picture of Kenny and Mitchell on the canvass trail. Having visited a sex shop, this time he was in the lingerie department of Debenham’s in Patrick Street, Cork. Ralph Riegel reported:
The sight of basques, suspenders and frilly knickers brought the entire FG entourage to an embarrassed halt—before a quick U-turn saw Mr Kenny, one MEP, two TDs, assembled councillors and bemused Young FG members rushed back to the safety of the perfume department.
In its final edition before the election the Sunday Business Post’s editorial said that next time we need a better campaign, and it called for reform of the nomination process.
One by one the candidates have been subjected to intense and unmerciful scrutiny by the media; one by one they have wilted under it. Some have been crushed by it. It has often been very harsh, but it has been necessary. This is what a campaign is: a searching job interview conducted largely by the media on the voters’ behalf. Some people no doubt believe that the media scrut
iny has been unfair and rather rough. All the candidates clearly believe this. But do voters really believe that they would be better served if facts about the candidates were kept hidden from them? We think not.
By Monday the 24th, with the polls to open on Thursday the 27th, the race for the Áras was a foregone conclusion according to four opinion polls published within twenty-four hours, confirming that Gallagher held a double-digit lead over Higgins. The REDC/Sunday Business Post poll showed Gallagher on 40 per cent to Higgins’s 26 per cent. The Behaviour and Attitudes/Sunday Times poll put Gallagher on 38 per cent and Higgins on 26 per cent. The Sunday Independent/Quantum Research poll showed Gallagher at 41 per cent (up 20 per cent in a week) and Higgins at 31 per cent, a drop of five points yet still far ahead of his nearest rival, McGuinness, at 10 per cent. Other candidates failed to break into double digits.
Five hundred homes, chosen at random and telephoned by professional researchers ‘using questions compiled by the editorial team at the Sunday Independent,’ asked three other salient questions. Only 6 per cent of those questioned believed someone had tried to kill Dana. A total of 47 per cent felt that Gallagher hadn’t dealt adequately with questions about his business affairs, while 51 per cent thought of Gallagher as a Fianna Fáil candidate.
That morning’s Irish Times poll showed Gallagher at 40 per cent, with Higgins at 26 per cent. The poll was conducted among a national quota sample of 1,000 people in 100 sampling points around the country and was conducted within the guidelines laid down by the Marketing Society of Ireland and the European Society for Opinion and Market Research.
The political editor, Stephen Collins, analysed the results. The concentration on Gallagher’s involvement with Fianna Fáil and his business dealings did not seem to have dented his lead, ‘but these issues could still influence voters in the last few days of the campaign.’ In addition, his role in Fianna Fáil had also helped him, as he was picking up a massive share of the Fianna Fáil vote—but not at the cost of votes from people who support other parties.