Gay Byrne Considers Presidential Bid After Norris Exit

Broadcaster Gay Byrne is the biggest name in a raft of new independent candidates being linked with the Irish presidency after last week's departure of front runner David Norris from the race.

Former MEP and Eurovision winner Dana Rosemary Scallon, artist Robert Ballagh and political pundit Olivia O'Leary are just some of the others being mentioned.

The race to succeed Mary McAleese has been thrown wide open by the departure of gay Senator David Norris from the race.

Mr Norris lost the support of a number of independent TDs in the wake of a controversy over a letter he wrote seeking clemency for his former partner who was convicted of having sex with a 15-year-old boy in Israel.

The end of the presidential run has been compared to a Greek tragedy, and polls show that while many in Ireland believe he was right to stand down, almost half of the population says they would still have voted for him in October's election.

The crisis for Mr Norris began the week before last when John Connolly, a 22-year-old law graduate from Cork, living in London, began posting rumors about the controversial letter online.

The youngster, who describes himself as strongly pro-Israeli, had been tipped off by a trade union member from the west of Ireland, who had previously supported Michael D Higgins.

Mr Higgins and his campaign team have denied any link to or knowledge of the tip off.

Mr Norris was confronted by members of his own campaign team about the existence of the letter, and several of them quit when the Senator revealed it was true.

They felt betrayed that Mr Norris had not mentioned the letter in the wake of a previous controversy earlier this year about Mr Norris's views on teenage sexuality.

Mr Norris insists he did not deliberately conceal the letter, but had not believed it was relevant given that it was written in 1997, on behalf of his former partner about an incident in 1992.

After the campaign staff quit, Mr Norris decided to go to the Sunday Independent newspaper with the letter, and reveal all.

Over the course of what was a bank holiday weekend, pressure mounted on the 15 TDs and Senators who had publicly pledged to sign Mr Norris's nomination papers.

The senator needed 20 signatures.

Would they stand by him given the fact that he used Oireachtas paper to send his plea for clemency in a case involving the statutory rape of a 15-year-old boy?

Mr Norris, who was celebrating his birthday in west Cork, maintained silence in the media.

But on Tuesday, after a number of Independent TDs succumbed to the pressure and withdrew their support for Mr Norris, the Senator called a press conference outside his Georgian home in Dublin to announce he was pulling out of the race.

He had recognized that getting nominated was now an impossible task and he decided to end the debacle.

"I deeply regret the most recent of all the controversies concerning my former partner of 25 years ago, Ezra Nawi," he said. "The fallout from his disgraceful behaviour has now spread to me and is in danger of contaminating others close to me both in my political and personal life. It is essential that I act decisively now to halt this negative process.

"I do not regret supporting and seeking clemency for a friend, but I do regret giving the impression that I did not have sufficient compassion for the victim of Ezra's crime.

I accept that more than a decade and a half later when I have now reviewed the issue, and am not emotionally involved, when I am not afraid that Ezra might take his own life, I see that I was wrong.

"He served his time and never offended again. Yes, his actions were terrible but my motivation to write the letter was out of love and concern. I was eager to support someone who had been very important in my life."

He finished a dignified and emotional speech with a quote from Samuel Beckett: "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail Again. Fail Better."

The withdrawal of Mr Norris from the campaign threw the contest wide open.

The existing candidates - Gay Mitchell of Fine Gael, Michael D Higgins of Labour, Independent Mary Davis and Independent Sean Gallagher - might have hoped to capitalize.

But instead, there has been a public clamor for some new candidates to take his place.

Online campaigns have seen broadcasters Olivia O'Leary and Miriam O'Callaghan mentioned as desirable candidates, but neither has expressed an interest.

Right wing conservative former MEP Dana Rosemary Scallon let it be known that she may throw her hat in the ring.

She came third in the 1997 election won by Mary McAleese and also wanted to run in 2004, but failed to get enough support to force an election.

There has been renewed speculation that Fianna Fail may yet run its own candidate with Eamon O'Cuiv, Mary Hanafin and Brian Crowley all publicly expressing an interest in running.

But by the start of this week most of the attention was focused on former Late Late Show presenter Gay Byrne.

The 77-year-old broadcaster topped a poll on one radio station and in one newspaper, even though he had never previously been linked to the job.

"It's quite amazing and complimentary and very nice," said Byrne. "I would have to take some considerable persuasion. It hasn't been on my horizon.

"If somebody can convince me that the mass of the Irish people are clamouring for Gay to be President, I would have to listen to the clamour," he said.

But he insisted that he did not believe this was the case at the moment.

Mr Byrne said he believed his emergence as a potential candidate was linked to people's frustrations with political parties, and a feeling that David Norris had been dumped out of the race through some "underhanded" means.