The GAA President Jarlath Burns has announced he will not be contesting the Irish Presidential election this year.
South Armagh born Mr Jarlath Burns had been talked up as the likely contender to succeed President Michael D Higgins who is to leave office in November at the end of his second term.
However, when he was asked about the issue during a sports interview on RTÉ Radio, the GAA chief said: “I have another year of the GAA presidency to do, and I would certainly not be in the mood to give that up to go for anything else.”
He added, “I have a lot of things to do in the GAA and a very short time to do it,” before stating “it’s a firm no from me”.
Jarlath Burns, The Presidential Election Timeline and Rules
The Presidential election in Ireland this year has to be held within a sixty-day window before the expiry of President Higgins’ term on 11 November.
The current President Higgins was elected on 11 November 2011 and re-elected in October 2018. An Irish President cannot serve for more than two terms.
Candidates and Nomination Process Still Unclear
The principal political parties have not yet made known their candidates for the election.
It is not clear if all the major parties will in the end nominate a candidate or whether they will opt to recommend a candidate from outside their own parties.
There has been an increasing trend of independent candidates running for nomination in recent Presidential elections in Ireland, with some of them standing in elections as well, such as the 1970 Eurovision song contest winner Dana, who was a candidate in 2011.
Anyone who wants to run for the Irish Presidential election needs to be nominated by no less than 20 members of Dáil Éireann (Irish Parliament) or Seanad Éireann (Irish Senate) or get nominations from no less than 4 local authorities.
Ex-Presidents or retiring Presidents can self-nominate, but not following two terms.
