Recent Irish Presidential Candidate and former UFC Featherweight and Lightweight champion Conor McGregor took to X to announce his stepping-back from the Irish Presidential race in the early hours of September 15th. McGregor’s announcement came just hours before he was due to address Dublin and Kildare City Councils in an attempt to secure the nominations needed to keep his name on the ballot.
“This was not an easy decision,” said McGregor, on X. “But it is the right one at this moment in time. While I will not contest this election, my commitment to Ireland does not end here.”
The 37-year-old former fighter went on to express his desire to “continue to serve [Irish] people” by using his “international platform”. Further, McGregor stated his intention to continue advocacy for “transparency and responsibility in public life at home”.
“This campaign has sparked an important conversation about democracy in Ireland about who gets to stand, who gets to choose and how we can ensure the presidency truly belongs to the people. That conversation will not end with my withdrawal.”
McGregor lost a civil appeal against the ruling that he had sexually assaulted Nikita Hand in a hotel in December 2018. As a result of the original ruling, McGregor was ordered to pay £206,000 to Ms Hand. Both cases no doubt hurt the fighter’s chances at a successful Presidential bid, given most Irish politicians commenting on McGregor’s candidacy said he was unfit in some way. Fine Gael Senator Garret Ahearn, for example, admitted that he “genuinely would struggle to think of anyone worse to hold that position” when it came to McGregor in the President role, according to a poll from Sky News.
McGregor has also been noted in saying the election’s eligibility rules were a “straitjacket” that prevented “a true democratic presidential election being contested”, according to the BBC.
Catherine Connolly (People Before Profit), Jim Gavin (Fianna Fáil), and Heather Humphreys (Fine Gael) have all secured significant backing from their parties and are expected to be viable candidates for when polls open to the public on October 24th.
