Disgraced whiskey distiller Conor McGregor is the most high-profile name seeking a five-minute audience with Galway’s city’s 18 councillors on Monday, September 15, alongside nine other presidential hopefuls at time of going to press.
In correspondence seen by the Galway Advertiser, campaign manager for the former martial artist, Charles O’Kane, has written to Mayor Mike Cubbard (Ind ) to seek an opportunity to “win you over” at a the nomination meeting next week.
“Exception has been taken by the political and media elites of this country to Mr McGregor, and the unofficial ‘Draft McGregor for President Campaign 2025’ is urging councillors to put his name to the people,” the letter pleads.
McGregor was found liable for sexual assault in November 2024 for raping mother-of-one Nikita Hand, and in July lost an appeal against that decision by a civil jury. According to media coverage, he is currently considering taking his case to the Supreme Court,
The Kildare-based Dubliner is reportedly seeking a nomination from a number of local authorities which are holding meetings on the same day as Galway City Council’s event. These include Dublin City Council, Kildare County Council, Roscommon County Council, Laois County Council and Longford County Council. However the fact that the Galway city meeting has been moved to later in the afternoon from its original morning slot means it is more likely McGregor might attend.
City officials said they will accept applications until Monday morning for a special meeting at 4pm where each applicant will have five minutes to convince councillors they ought to be on the October 24 ballot.
Joseph Chikelue, Keith McGrory, Donnacha MacGabhan, Cora Stack, Searlait Ni Chianain, Walter Ryan-Purcell and Gerben Uunk, Lucy-Anne O’Leary and Charlie Keddy have also contacted City Hall to be on the list.
Fine Gael councillors across the country have been instructed by their party whips to vote against all candidates, but a Fianna Fáíl councillor attempted to move a motion this week to cancel the presidential meeting on College Road.
Supported by Fine Gael’s Shane Forde, Councillor Mike Crowe (FF ) proposed Galway City Council should not facilitate anyone looking to run for the presidency. An Irish citizen, aged over 35, needs the signatures of 20 Oireachtas members, or resolutions of four local authorities, for their name to appear on a presidential ballot.
Independent councillor Donal Lyons was one of a number of councillors who opposed the motion.
“I respect councillors Forde and Crowe’s opinions, but in the interest of democracy and the democratic process to continue, we should hold this meeting, as [facilitating candidacies] is one of the few powers of local authority members,” he said. To murmurs of approval around the chamber, Lyons said: “We can listen – it doesn’t mean we have to endorse anyone.”
Councillors Alan Curran (SD ), Niáll McNelis (Lab ), Terry O’Flaherty (Ind ), John McDonagh (Lab ) and Mayor Mike Cubbard (Ind ) all spoke in support of Councillor Lyons’ democratic sentiments, and in a roll call vote of the full council, only councillors Crowe, Forde and Peter Keane (FF ) voted to cancel the meeting.
It was noted by observers that Fine Gael councillors Eddie Hoare and Clodagh Higgins voted to host presidential hopefuls, despite their party dictating they must vote against them.
