Jim Gavin ‘delighted’ to be selected as Fianna Fáil presidential candidate

By Gráinne Ní Aodha and Bairbre Holmes, PA

Former Dublin Gaelic football manager Jim Gavin has said he is “delighted” to become Fianna Fáil’s presidential candidate.

Mr Gavin, a retired army pilot, is best known for leading Dublin to a historic five-in-a-row wins in the All-Ireland football championship.

He is also chairman of the North-East Inner City Taskforce and is the chief operations officer for the Irish Aviation Authority.

He defeated the party’s MEP and former junior minister Billy Kelleher in a secret ballot of the parliamentary party on Tuesday, by 29-41.

Speaking alongside Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin afterwards, Mr Gavin said it was a “robust” competition.

“It’s a great honour for myself, a great honour for my family,” he said outside Leinster House.

“We’ve had a very robust competition, and I’ve been involved in competitions all my life, and I think this will be the toughest campaign that I’ve ever been involved in, but I’ve got great support from the parliamentary party.”

He said the competition was welcome and described Mr Kelleher as “a phenomenal” MEP.

“I’ve learned a lot. I think the parliamentary party, the energy that I felt in the room today, was so positive, so energetic, and it speaks to my vision to have a presidency with energy and an active presidency on behalf of the Irish people,” he said.

Mr Kelleher said he would be actively campaigning for Mr Gavin “because of the values that he stands for”.

“I will canvas every day that I can to ensure that he is elected because he shares the values that I share.

“I’m very confident with the endorsement of the parliamentary party today that he will be an exceptionally brilliant candidate and a very fine president.”

He added: “I was very impressed by his speech.

“He spoke about the values and I know them clearly as well, about engaging the communities across the country, about ensuring that we take the harshness of debate that’s now very evident on our streets, and start listening to people and engaging and trying to bring people back from the extremes, back to the centre.”

Mr Gavin has described himself as a “proud” republican and a centrist, stating that he voted “yes” in both the abortion and marriage equality referenda.

“I’m a proud republican. I’m a constitutional republican, I’ve served the state. I’m motivated by a sense of duty,” he said.

“I’m motivated by serving the people of the country, that has always been in my DNA, I look forward now to taking this presidential campaign out to the people and show them what I’m about.”

Mr Martin said: “It’s been a very good morning for Fianna Fáil in terms of the engagement.”

He paid tribute to Mr Kelleher as “a fine parliamentarian” and said “to be fair” Mr Kelleher was right to say that an electoral contest would “energise” the party.

“The most noble duty anybody can perform is the role of a peacekeeper,” Mr Martin said of Mr Gavin.

“We’re dealing with a very competent, capable, well-known person, and presidential elections are the most arduous and most challenging of them all.”

Mr Gavin is the third candidate in Ireland’s presidential election, which will be held on October 24th.

To run as a presidential candidate, a person must be an Irish citizen over the age of 35 and nominated by either 20 Irish parliamentarians or by four local authorities.

Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and Fine Gael command enough support in the Dail parliament to put forward their own candidates.

Former social protection minister Heather Humphreys is Fine Gael’s presidential nominee, while left-wing independent Catherine Connolly has secured the backing of a variety of opposition parties.

Sinn Féin has not yet decided whether it will field its own candidate or back an independent, such as Ms Connolly.

The party said it would decide on September 20th, four days before nominations for candidates close.