Mary Davis’s presidential campaign gathers pace

SPECIAL GUEST Achill Half Marathon special guest and race starter Mary Davis is pictured with Annie Henry and her daughter Mary, who is an Olympic Equestrian Athlete from Achill. Mary also paid a visit to Castlebar on Friday night.?Pic: Michael McLaughlin

Davis connects with Mayo roots as Presidential campaign hots up


Michael Commins

PRESIDENTIAL candidate hopeful, Mary Davis, has spoken of her admiration for the late Dermot Earley of Roscommon and Kildare. “I always felt that if Dermot had decided to stand for the Presidential election after he retired as Chief of Staff of the Army, I would have supported him wholeheartedly. He was a person I admired in a huge way and I had the utmost respect for him,” she told friends at a gathering in the Bosh lounge in Castlebar on Friday night.
Mary, who is a native of the Kinaffe area between Kiltimagh and Swinford, and who is a past pupil of St Louis School in Kiltimagh, said the death of the former Roscommon football legend was a great loss to the country. “I respected his values hugely as well as his work with the Defence Forces and representing the country abroad. He was born around 100 yards from where we are here tonight.”
Boosted by a major endorsement from Louth County Council the previous evening, friends were upbeat about her chances of securing the nomination ahead of her visit to Monaghan County Council yesterday evening (Monday) where she secured a nomination.
Relaxed and “at home” among her own, Mary, whose brother Eugene Rooney won a National Football league medal with Mayo in 1970 and who runs a popular hostelry over in New York, spoke of the reasons why she felt the time was right to seek the nomination.
“Mary McAleese had as the theme of her Presidency ‘building bridges’ and she has worked so hard on that during her terms of office. We are in tough times economically at the moment. I know the challenges facing a lot people today.
“We need to believe and trust in ourselves and have confidence, we need to renew ourselves at local and community level. I saw that firsthand back in 2003 when I chaired the World Special Olympics Games here in Ireland. The huge community involvement was just amazing. It was achieved through people working together and believing we were able to make things happen. A transformation took place in the build-up to those Games. I believe we can do it again from a social and economic standpoint.”
Mary, who was appointed by President McAleese to serve on the Council of State in 2004, says her candidacy will focus on values and equal opportunities.
The Mayo woman, who has resided with her family in Dublin for many years, must get the backing of four Local Authorities if she is to secure the nomination to be a candidate in the October election. Senator David Norris from Dublin and Sean Gallagher from Cavan are also seeking nominations to stand as independent candidates. Each Council can only nominate one candidate. After the boost from Louth last week, sources close to Mary are confident that she will be in the race by September.
Fine Gael are set to choose their candidate for the Presidential Election this Saturday in Dublin.