Presidential Election 2025

Yeah, he is now far less popular than Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese were in their time and, as I said, we don’t have polling going back but I doubt very much if any previous president had an approval rating as low as 64% like like Michael D

Nonsense! "Out of context" is the Kneecap defence i.e. "Guilty as charged but whatabout…." Nothing in "the context" changes the meaning of this sentence which is not random but highly relevant in replying to a comment about "foreign aggression".

Yes, it is about the executive power of the State but that encompasses all our International Relations except for the role of the Oireachtas as defined by that same Article 29 (don't start me on the Judicial power which has intruded into foreign policy😫)

The role of the President in International Relations, as in almost every other matter, is to act on the advice of the Government. Michael D. prefers to ignore this limitation and rely on the pusillanimity of our politicians. His fans on the Left lap it up but wait til some right-wing reactionary turns the Aras into a haven for the world's aggressors.

When logic and argument fail you, Francie, you are never shy about expressing your ire and frustration. And then you embarrass yourself with nonsense like this.

You say the President has not made foreign policy, he just "made comments and offered his opinions" [on the most sensitive foreign policy issues]. So when e.g. the Ayatollah got that letter from Michael D. about the wonders of Persia and its peaceful people, did the Ayatollah understand that it was just blather from an old geezer in a big house or did he think Ireland would act accordingly in international affairs e.g. at the UN and in the EU?

And did Putin understand that the letter to the Irish Times on the Aras website was just an old dear spouting off?

And I suppose, applying your daft rule about phone calls to the Aras, Putin can call up Michael D and ask for a political favour, so long as the favour is not for his United Russia Party?

That may depend on how he views his dismissal from the WHO.

Does he see it as the unfortunate but necessary response to budget cuts or does he think the DG took the opportunity to push him out, for whatever reason? The Irish media is full of dross about his dismissal but they know nothing. Although the IT may have said more than they realize:

Dr Tedros’s dropping of Dr Ryan from his senior executive team has raised eyebrows, given Dr Ryan was playing a leading role in the prioritisation exercise that has been ongoing in recent months and which is fundamental to the creation of a new structure which will see the number of divisions reduced from 10 to four, and a reduction in the number of departments from 76 to 34.

I guarantee that the man who appointed Robert Mugabe as a Goodwill Ambassador (it's true!) and who covered up the likely Chinese lab leak, did not want an Irishman slashing his empire.

If Mike Ryan thinks he was cut out, what a wonderful riposte if he was elected President of Ireland! First item on the agency - an official visit to Geneva so the DG can lick his boots. But if he accepts the decision as bona fide and his relations with the DG are still solid, he will want to stay in a global health role. Calling Bill Gates!

No surprise that parties would want him but only Labour is quoted in the IT piece. Did they drop some text naming other parties and forget to change their headline? Mairead McGuinness and other party hopefuls would be stung if their own parties were blabbing to the media about Mike Ryan.

He would own two of the biggest issues - health and Gaza (no matter that the President has no role in health and Michael D embarrassed us with his Iranian shenanigans and "no anti-semitism here"). He would say only good things about our COVID lockdowns and the odds are there will be another global pandemic in the next 14 years.

He will need the parties' organizational support but he won't want to be identified as a party candidate. Ivana is laying claim to him but he won't bite - Labour is a shadow of its 2011 self. Could FF/FG SF Lab/SDs rally round him as an anti-McGregor candidate? Simon Harris would have to climb down from his bullish statements about an FG candidate but FG still have nightmares about 2011 and will grasp any decent opportunity to avoid another humiliation. Stephen Collins says SF is on a hiding-to-nothing in this election but, of course!, he doesn't mention that that's true of all the main parties. Even FF couldn't muster more than 20% for a party candidate.

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025/03/21/stephen-collins-conor-mcgregors-presidential-hopes-are-a-warning-to-the-government-parties-to-unite-behind-a-strong-candidate/

Unless Mike Ryan rules this out publicly (and so far he's saying nothing), we will hear nothing official for weeks and it would take months to line up all the main parties. We will know this is a real prospect if he is added to PaddyPower's list of runners and riders. If his odds shorten suddenly, we will know this is a done deal and insiders are placing their bets early