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The next president of the IFA will be chosen from a field of three. Following a day of high drama, Henry Burns, Joe Healy and Flor McCarthy will contest the presidency. Neither Tim O’Leary nor Derek Deane will be in the race. Both men fell one nomination short of the required six, despite last-minute attempts on Wednesday.
It is shaping up to be an election like no other. Fundraising is prohibited; canvassing door-to-door discouraged.
Joe Healy is the first candidate from west of the Shannon since John Donnelly in 1993; Flor McCarthy the first ever Kerryman to seek the presidency.
Burns and Healy are regarded as the early frontrunners, but McCarthy is the only Munster candidate, and a volatile and angry electorate will ensure there are plenty of twists in store.
The election will take place in April, with voting most likely through the middle of that month. There will be full elections, with Monaghan’s Nigel Renaghan the first to declare for the deputy.
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