Deirdre Heenan
THERE ARE good reasons for believing reports that northern academic, Deirdre Heenan would appeal to Micheal Martin as a presidential candidate for Fianna Fail, but there are also caveats.
For a start Deirdre dismisses out of hand the prospects of a border poll and in an interview with RTÉ in April she said that it is “never mentioned here” (up north). Furthermore, she was most anxious to cite Martin who had told the Belfast Telegraph that he could not see it in the foreseeable future, perhaps not even in 50 years. She repeated these assertions, again quoting Martin, in the Irish News.
As far back as 2021 Heenan, in her best school marm style, castigated the Irish government, the SDLP and Unionist parties whom she said had completely failed to combat Sinn Féin in its drive for a border poll and a United Ireland in the United States (see The Phoenix 9/4/21).
Anti-border poll, SF and even the SDLP? This is all sweet music to the man that Eoghan Harris mentored on his revisionist flight from constitutional Republicanism. A perfect candidate if Martin regarded SF as his main enemy, an impression he often gives. But in an electoral sense and in the medium to long term, FF’s main enemy is not SF but Martin’s coalition partners, Fine Gael.
While putative FF, SF and Independent candidates thrash around, Fine Gael’s Simon Harris has ensured that the party is well advanced in preparations for the presidency and a chance to claw back political credibility after the general election. But if this happens, FF is the chief loser in the ongoing battle for supremacy and even survival between the two centre-right parties.
Here’s the thing. FG’s Mairead McGuinness could stave off a strong challenge from Catherine Connolly and a united left if a weaker FF candidate passed enough transfers on to her. On the other hand, if there is no credible FF candidate — and Deirdre is no Mary McAleese — Martin can logically say it is pointless to squander resources in a hopeless battle and keep the party out of the contest. But if there is no FF candidate for its supporters to vote for will they rush to the polls to ensure a first time FG triumph? Just saying.
