Irish Examiner view: Selection of proper Presidential candidates is crucial

In a fragmented field of runners, there is no knowing who might emerge as the winner after the final count

Tue, 25 Mar, 2025 - 01:00

November’s presidential election is taking on the appearance of an unholy combat zone. It will be a battleground that needs to be taken very seriously by all of this country’s political establishment, because if it is not, then the results could well turn out to be very hard to swallow.

We have seen across the world in recent times elections which have been lost to extremist causes because of political apathy, voter disengagement, or opportunism on behalf of a very organised and strategically prepared opposition. Ireland can afford none of these eventualities.

We have at present a government which is fighting fires on many fronts: Devising a coherent political approach to rapidly evolving international crises; dealing with a housing emergency and infrastructural issues which threaten to derail economic progress, and coping with a surge in support for right-wing ugliness.

It behoves all on the left, the centre, and the centre-right to put forward serious and electable candidates who have the best interests of this country front and centre of their campaigns, as well as the welfare, health, and safety of all Irish people as their core principles.

While several governments have remained tight-lipped about opinions expressed by the current President, Michael D Higgins, during his two terms of office, which have been far outside his official remit, the current administration can ill-afford a winning candidate this time around who has stood on a platform committed to challenging its authority.

In a fragmented field of runners, there is no knowing who might emerge as the winner after the final count. A strong, popular, and cohesive candidate with cross-party support will be necessary to stave off an unwelcome outcome.

Trump's policies will cost lives

The spectre of Donald Trump overshadows so many different people, places, and things right now, it is hard to fully grasp his intentions and those of his administration.

Hardly ever though has the impact of his policies been more visibly distressing than in the neighbouring countries of Sudan and South Sudan.

Sudan has been in the grip of a bloody and vicious civil war for nearly two full years now and one of the net effects of that awful conflict has been the creation of a tsunami of 12m refugees, over 1m of whom have sought succour and shelter across the border in South Sudan. The humanitarian crisis created by Sudan’s internal war is now the subject of accusations of genocide and the indiscriminate killing of innocent people caught between the combatants.

Rampant gender-based violence with rape being used as a weapon of war, widespread malnutrition, the dangers of infectious diseases, as well as the systematic destruction of property and businesses, are part of daily life in Sudan and those neighbouring countries trying desperately to provide the aid needed so frantically.

In the midst of all this, Trump and his minions decided unilaterally to effectively to shutter the work of the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) and in and around Sudan the effect has been devastating.

The cessation of the delivery of US aid programmes is likely to be the causation of tens of thousands of more deaths.

The crisis in Sudan is, sadly, just one of the many humanitarian crises across the globe and the decision by the US administration to close off what has been a singular lifeline for so many people is morally repugnant.

We in Ireland pay over €100m annually in humanitarian aid to a variety of non-governmental organisations to allow them to do vital lifesaving work across the globe, but it is a mere drop in the ocean in terms of what is actually needed.

The first world already has an ethical responsibility to the peoples of the third world and — as was highlighted by Irish Examiner Health Correspondent Niamh Griffin during a recent trip to South Sudan — this is not something we can turn our collective backs to.

Resilient Carey

The decisions being made in Washington are having a seismic effect globally and no less so than across America’s northern border in Canada.

Threats from the Oval Office to bring its neighbour to heel and create America’s 51st state have caused normally stoic, taciturn, and affable Canadians to become rabidly nationalistic almost overnight. For those making the decisions — and threats — in the White House, their aim of furthering the cause of the populist Conservative Party leader in Ottawa, Pierre Poilievre, appears to have backfired badly.

Rather than rushing to lend their support to the Trump-lite candidate, Canadians are falling over themselves to support the new prime minister, Mark Carney, the leader of the Liberal party who, on Sunday, announced a snap general election for April 28.

The election campaign is likely to come down to one question: Who can best handle the threat posed by Donald Trump and make Canada more resilient in the face of America’s threats? Mr Carney has already sought support from Britain and France, the two countries who played the greatest part in Canada’s foundation. While he has not yet received any words of encouragement from his country’s nominal head of state, King Charles III, he has been warmly embraced by both French president Emmanuel Macron and British prime minister Kier Starmer.

Canada will play a vital role in anchoring key Nato policies in Ukraine and, given America’s increasingly hostile and
antagonistic view of the country, the expected re-election of Mr Carney and his Liberal party will be yet another blow to Trump’s geopolitical discrimination.

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