The front page of tomorrow's Sunday Independent.
Ronan Costello
Editor
The Sunday Independent is running a front page story claiming that Trinity Senator David Norris is set to re-enter the Presidential race. The Senator, who withdrew from the race on Tuesday August 2, returned to Ireland yesterday and is said to have reconsidered his withdrawal after an outpouring of public support and the urging of independent TDs and Senators. The Sunday Independent also claims that the Senator may receive support from some Fianna Fáil Oirechtas members.
It is claimed that Senator Norris will hold a meeting with his advisers tonight and that an announcement can be expected some time in the next week, with an appearance on “The Late Late Show” booked for this Friday.
The Sunday Independent claims that Senator Norris might expect some Fianna Fáil support based on an anonymous quote from a senior party member.
“We haven’t got our own candidate and given the level of public support for Norris I think it would play well to nominate him,” said the party source.
“I think the leadership would turn a blind eye if some TDs or senators signed his papers. It would probably be up to the senators. They know him. He is a colleague.”
It is reported that Independent deputies Luke “Ming” Flanagan and Maureen Sullivan, as well as two Socialist Party TDs, Joe Higgins and Clare Daly, will still back the nomination of the Trinity scholar. People Before Profit’s Richard Boyd Barret has also confirmed that he will back Norris, in the absence of any other credible left wing candidate. Senator John Crown will also back Senator Norris’s nomination.
