DUBLIN — One of the most successful managers in Irish sports history, Jim Gavin, has become the first political outsider to join Ireland’s presidential election.
In a secret ballot Tuesday, political novice Gavin was selected by lawmakers of the centrist Fianna Fáil party to contest the Oct. 24 election. He prevailed in a 41-29 vote versus sitting MEP Billy Kelleher. This will be Gavin’s first run for elected office.
The unexpectedly close result reflected backbencher unhappiness with Prime Minister Micheál Martin, who had handpicked Gavin rather than anyone from his own party’s benches.
Gavin and Kelleher both delivered 10-minute speeches to the Fianna Fáil lawmakers before the secret ballot in an upstairs office in the parliament building.
Behind the scenes, several party lawmakers complained to POLITICO that Martin had taken their support for granted. While the party’s Cabinet ministers all said they did back Gavin, Tuesday’s result shows that about half of backbenchers did not.
“We all get that Jim Gavin’s a patriotic Irishman with a wonderful CV outside of politics. But we barely know what his political views are — or if he even has any,” said one Fianna Fáil backbencher who spoke to POLITICO on condition of anonymity to discuss the vote.
“Is Jim Gavin even a Fianna Fáil supporter?”
Gavin — who has shunned the spotlight since stepping down in 2019 as manager of Dublin’s Gaelic football team following its record fifth straight championship — thanked his new party colleagues. His campaign will seek to tap into the huge fan base nationwide for Ireland’s native sports run by the powerful Gaelic Athletic Association.
“Competition’s really good,” Gavin, 54, said in brief remarks to reporters outside the parliament.
He spent two decades as a pilot and senior officer in Ireland’s air force, including on United Nations peacekeeping missions in Africa, before taking charge of Dublin’s Gaelic football squad. He’s currently a senior executive at Ireland’s aviation regulator.
His nomination increases the confirmed field of presidential candidates to three. The other government coalition party, Fine Gael, is running former Business Minister Heather Humphreys, while some left-wing opposition parties are backing independent socialist Catherine Connolly. Sinn Féin, the main opposition party, has yet to decide whether it’s joining the battle.
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