Quotes

Found this today on the Irish Times Web site http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/1020/breaking34.html and thought it was interesting.

Mary Davis:"What I’m more interested in is the people who are airbrushed out of society" - responding to a question about airbrushed images from Pat Kenny.

"I would like the Áras to be a very open home. In fact, I would be interested in changing the name to Áras na Daoine" - making the pitch for the people's presidency.

“I knew the campaign would be hard, but it got to be very negative. I’m the best candidate. I speak the truth all of the time."

“For example, the fact that I had only served on three State boards, and there was nothing about the 18 voluntary organisations that I had given my time and commitment to and giving opportunity to people who are marginalised” - expressing frustration that her integrity was being called into question.

Seán Gallagher:

"I'm sure I'm probably the only candidate who ever had their own herd number."

"I have never used the word 'condemnation' in my life. It is not in my vocabulary" - explaining why he had not been harsher on Fianna Fáil during a television debate.

"I was asked to condemn Fianna Fáil, and the first thing that came into my mind was the thousands of ordinary decent men and women who are the grassroots of Fianna Fáil . . . and I didn't want to condemn them because they weren't in government, they weren't in Cabinet."

"It was an accounting procedure really in terms of which account the money went into," - declaring that his receipt of a large loan that breached company law was "an honest mistake".

Michael D Higgins:

"You know even in the old days, I never liked champagne for a start" - when asked about Gay Mitchell’s warning to voters not to elect a president who will sip champagne and recite poetry in Áras an Uachtaráin (see below).

“I think it’s time we stopped the nonsense of suggesting that somehow or other that if you have served in every elective office in this country, if you have been lord mayor twice, been president of the Council of [Arts] Ministers, that all of that counts for nothing."

"I have the stamina and the energy . . . I'm running a very rigorous campaign."

Martin McGuinness:

How do you square, Martin McGuinness, with your God the fact that you were involved in the murder of so many people? - Miriam O’Callaghan questions the Sinn Féin candidate during the 'Prime Time' debate.

"I think that’s a disgraceful comment to make" - the candidate responds

"I was accused of being a murderer. That was wrong . . . Miriam went round all the other candidates and asked each and every one of them if I was suitable to be president. She didn’t ask me if I thought any of them were suitable to be president of Ireland."

"I could count on the fingers in one hand the number of people in the North who have said to me - when did you leave the IRA - so it's not an issue for ordinary people."

“I wouldn’t even attempt to pitch myself against any other poet. I do it for fun" - denying he was set for a poetry battle with Mr Higgins.

Gay Mitchell:

“I will work with them [the Government] and the network I have to restore the confidence of this country so those children in Buncrana and Sligo and Dublin do not have to become part of a Skype generation, while we sip champagne in the park reading poetry."

"I've been speaking to friends this morning who've said they haven't made their minds up yet" - discussing his friends' voting intentions.

“Seán Gallagher is not going to be Minister for Innovation and Jobs. That is the problem. The job is a different job to the one Seán is applying for. This is a political job."

"It’s a political job. I travelled with Mary Robinson abroad more than any other minister. I know this job. I want to contribute to the recovery of my country. I believe I am the best qualified person to do that.”

Davis Norris:

“But you are not running for election in ancient Greece. You are running for election in modern Ireland” - "Morning Ireland" presenter Áine Lawlor to the senator as he sought to explain the difference between paedophilia and pederasty.

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better” - pulling out of his initial bid for the presidency.

“I am tempered steel; I have been through the fire” - speaking on radio in the aftermath of controversy over clemency letters he sent on behalf of his former partner.

I’ve been told by my lawyers that these letters are subject to professional legal privilege, and I’ve been told I cannot publish them” - on those letters.

“While other candidates may wear the badge of independence for political gain, I am the only one who has never been a member of a political party, never been appointed to a State board or never had my political campaigns backed by those with vested interests" - claiming to be the only true “24 carat” independent candidate.

"We would have different views but Pope Benedict shares certain things in common with me. . . . Pope Benedict has put his foot in it once or twice and got slapped, and I share that experience with him."

Dana Rosemary Scallon:

"I'm a very fast learner."

“It has come to my attention that yet further allegations, this time of a most untrue and malicious, vile nature have been levelled against a member of my family. Let it be known that lawyers have already been instructed to forensically investigate a particular communication that spread this vile, false allegation which attempts to implicate me and destroy my good character" - reading from a statement at the end of the "Prime Time" debate.

“I am going to leave it behind me. I am standing by my statement” - expressing her determination to stay in the race for the Áras following the controversy that surfaced surrounding a family member.

“I’ve never been on a board. I’ve never been invited to be on a board so I won’t be able to put that forward, and I haven’t been on the Council of State, but I have been on a council estate."

“It was very scary to look at. I think we are all very lucky to be here today. I never start a journey without saying a little prayer and I think we are all very lucky" - commenting after her campaign car suffered a tyre blowout while travelling on the M4.

Yet Another Debate.

In the presidential election we had another TV debate last night which was hosted by Miriam O'Callaghan on RTE's Prime Time slot. The following is the view of Pat Stacey of the Evening Herald on the proceedings. ( Taken from the Evening Herald 13/10/11)
Sick and tired of presidential election debates? We were until about 10.50 last night, when Dana dropped her "vile and malicious allegation" bombshell.
Or was it a smoke bomb designed to distract attention from the emptiness of her campaign and garner a little sympathy - and maybe a few votes? Or perhaps Dana just dropped an egg that will send her skidding even further to the margins of irrelevancy. After all, her CV includes Something's Cooking In The Kitchen.
Whatever, it brought what had been a largely muted and fractured debate in which none of the candidates exactly covered themselves in glory to an electrifying surreal and chaotic end.
Dana nearly broke down. David Norris went off on a rant. Miriam O'Callaghan was bemused. "What are you talking about?" she asked "What is the nature of the allegation?"
We don't know yet, but we do know how The Somewhat Less Than Magnificent Seven performed on the night. It's ratings time.

Michael D Higgins: A texter to Tonight With Vincent Browne on TV3 later wryly remarked the Michael D had taken the Ronan Keating approach to the debate: " He says it best when he say nothing at all". And that was about the size of it.
Spared the intense grilling Miriam O'Callaghan meted out to some of the others, Higgins kept his foot and mouth well apart, and said nothing likely to stall what is increasingly looking like a slow, if not always steady-in-his-gait, amble to the Aras. RATING 6.5/10

Gay Mitchell: Once again, Mitchell demonstrated his inside-out, upside-down knowledge of the Constitution and ho the job of President fits into the political structure. But this was still another dull and uninspired performance unlikely to alter the perception of him as a bit, well, cold and superior.
He can's seem to let his Martin McGuinness obsession go, either, taking digs at McG whenever the opportunity arose - and sometimes even when it didn't. Some commentators believe that tactic has backfired. And besides, as we'll see in a moment, McGuinness doesn't need any help tarnishing his own campaign. RATINGS 4/10

Martin McGuinness: Basically, he didn't handle Miriam's questions well. Her suggestion that his Catholicism would be difficult to reconcile with his involvement in murder was met with a snippy, "That's a disgraceful comment"
He accused her of making "a stupid statement" when she pressed him on his knowledge about who murdered David Kelly's father and suggested uncomfortable encounters would be a regular feature of a McGuinness presidency. This was the closest we've seen to McGuinness losing his rag, and while it won't change the minds of his hardcore republican supporters, it's likely to have an effect on the second preferences. RATING 2/10

Sean Gallagher: Healthy options poll signs and woolly waffle about creating jobs (which, as Miriam reminded him, is not the President's job) aside, Gallagher seemed to be the The Candidate Who Stands For Nothing In Particular. Until last night , when it appeared clear that he stands for: Fianna Fail.
The crucial damage was done when, at Miriam's prompting, he couldn't bring himself to state that the party he'd joined as a teenager, but now claims he's no longer involved with, had screwed up the country. It was a damaging performance. The ties that bind may be the ones that drag him  down. RATINGS 2/10

Mary Davis: "How can you be on so many boards and not be an insider?" Miriam asked the woman who claims to be the ultimate outsider. Davis pointed out that she was on three State boards. Miriam had suggested 25.
Davis is recovering well from the fuss over that particular subject.
And more impressively, she kept her cool when others around her were losing theirs under Miriam O'Callaghan's relentless grilling questioning. RATINGS 5/10

David Norris:Though he escaped the kind of grilling Vincent Browne gave him, there was nothing here to suggest Norris can recover an inch of lost ground. Miriam wondered if he had "the right judgement" for the job. He protested he'd been the victim of "a media firestorm, the like of which had never been seen".
The disability benefit issue? It had all been "legal". And the letters?. He has already "answered that comprehensively". It's all on his website, apparently. Her questioning of him seemed almost perfunctory; so, now, does his campaign. RATINGS 2/10

Dana Rosemary Scallon: The bombshell aside, this was another dismal performance that highlighted Dana's poor understanding of the role. Miriam went relatively easy on the American citizenship angle which has been done to death and instead targeted Dana's "right-wing fundamentalism"
She responded that if she was a right-winged fundamentalist (and she doesn't think she is) then "the Constitution is right-wing fundamentalist". Ah, so that's that cleared up. RATINGS 1/10