Richard O'Donoghue backs island-wide vote, lambasts party directives
Richard O'Donoghue supported a motion to allow people on the island of Ireland to vote on a presidential candidate and urged the government to reflect on the Act during the presidential campaign. He criticised Fianna Fáil and Fianna Gael for party directives that he said blocked candidates and warned those actions will depress turnout.
Main point
Richard O'Donoghue said the motion is about allowing people on the island of Ireland to vote for a presidential candidate and that the Act should be reflected on in the presidential campaign.
Party directives and candidate selection
He accused Fianna Fáil of not allowing one of their Taoiseach to be nominated by their own party for convention and said Fianna Gael gave a directive to councillors to block anyone who wanted to run. He described those actions as sounding "like a dictatorship."
Grassroots disenfranchisement
O'Donoghue argued that long-standing grassroots supporters feel betrayed, saying people who used to vote for party candidates are now telling him they will not vote. He said members who had supported parties year after year were denied a genuine democratic choice of president.
Turnout and local impact
Drawing on local results in Limerick, he said Fianna Fáil were down 3,000 votes and Fianna Gael down 2,000, with a displacement of 8,000 votes. He said only 4,500 of those votes came to him, implying about 4,000 people did not vote, and used this to illustrate a wider pattern of disengagement.
Tone and consequence
He criticised what he called the "farcical" run-up to the presidency and the "gutter" aspects of the campaign, saying the government and party actions have damaged confidence and that the parties have forgotten the grassroots and will be reminded of that shortly.
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I support this motion and Minister you spoke and you spoke about the Act. The Act should be something that the government should actually reflect on when it comes to the presidential campaign. This motion is about having people in the island of Ireland be allowed to vote on a presidential candidate. This is what it's about. I'm old school to me there's 32 counties in Ireland not 26 and I and I will never change from that and our respect for everyone in this country it's the island of Ireland. We looked at the farcical presidential run-up to this and we looked at where parties in this Dáil stopped candidates and gave direction to their party members and councillors to block candidates running for the president of Ireland. Fianna Fáil did not even allow one of their Taoiseach to be nominated for their own party to go to convention for to run for the president of Ireland. Instead they picked an outsider outside of the grassroots of Fianna Fáil. Fianna Gael gave a directive to their councillors to block anyone that wanted to run for the president of Ireland. To me this sounds like a dictatorship and now what are we going to do? We're going to have the lowest turnout ever for a presidential election in the history of the state. Anyone that's looking in here from the outside people from all parties and none are saying to me Richard after all the years that I was going out to vote. I'm now saying no I'm not even going to vote. I couldn't believe it people that used carry me to vote are telling me Richard I know I'm not even going to go out to vote. So what have Fianna Fáil and Fianna Gael done to the loyal members of their party. To the people that have put them in here year on year. They have dictated to them we are not giving you the basic rights of democracy, the democracy of a choice of president. Is that what we are now telling the people of Ireland? Is it no wonder when we look at the turnout and you look at rural versus urban when it goes to voting patterns? The highest turnout for any elections by percentage wise is in the rural area versus urban areas. Why? The grassroots. They all came from the county one time and they moved into the cities and made their lives. The grassroots grew up with politics. They've seen everything that happened. They listened to all the stories and they wore different colours with pride because it was the party they followed. And now they see a mockery be made of it by the same governance that's in here today. And when I looked at the last couple of days of the presidential election and I see the gutter stuff, gutter coming out of people, going into their past and telling them that they've done this and they've done that. When the same government that are going to the gutter have destroyed this as a nation. Destroyed their own party members. And when I look at the county of Limerick at the last election, Fianna Fáil were down 3,000 votes, Fianna Gael were down 2,000 votes. There was a displacement of 8,000 votes. But out of that 8,000 votes only 4,500 gave me the votes. That means that 4,000 people at the last election didn't vote. So there's a pattern now being shown. Because they don't believe anymore that there's democracy in this country. And that's shown today by this motion and what you have done in the history of what you're trying to achieve. You forgot the grassroots. And you will be reminded of it shortly. Thank you.
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