{"id":33141,"date":"2025-08-30T16:08:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T16:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/33141\/"},"modified":"2025-08-30T16:08:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T16:08:07","slug":"taoiseach-confirms-endorsement-of-jim-gavin-for-president-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/33141\/","title":{"rendered":"Taoiseach confirms endorsement of Jim Gavin for president \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taoiseach Mich\u00e9al Martin<\/a> has confirmed he is endorsing former Dublin football manager Jim Gavin<\/a> to run as the Fianna F\u00e1il<\/a> candidate in the forthcoming presidential election<\/a>. He says he believes Mr Gavin has all the qualities necessary for the position.<\/p>\n

Mr Martin said he met Mr Gavin in July after several people had suggested the chief operations officer of the Irish Aviation Authority to him. They said Mr Gavin would be a very effective candidate and would represent the presidency well. As such, Mr Gavin agreed to let his name go forward as candidate for the party nomination.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the Daniel O\u2019Connell Summer School in Co Kerry on Saturday afternoon, Mr Martin told reporters: \u201cI think he\u2019s an extraordinary, accomplished person. I think he has the right values, he has a life of service to the nation, a peacekeeper with United Nations, working in our Defence Forces, chaired pretty expertly the citizens\u2019 assembly in terms of the government mayoral issue … <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat has struck me, is anybody I speak to, who have had an involvement with him, or who have worked with him, speak very highly about his integrity, his principles and his values.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mr Martin said he is \u201ccertainly supporting Jim Gavin and supporting in the context of a decision that the parliamentary party will take. Of course it would be a decision of the parliamentary party, but I\u2019m very strongly supportive of Jim Gavin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier today Mr Gavin contacted members of the Fianna F\u00e1il<\/a> parliamentary party seeking their votes to become the party\u2019s presidential nominee.<\/p>\n

In a letter to the TDs on Saturday, Mr Gavin said: \u201cOver the last two months, members of the party and the parliamentary party have approached me to ask if I would be willing to put my name forward. I was very honoured to have been approached.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince then, I have engaged in thoughtful conversations with people both in the party and in the wider community. These discussions have reaffirmed my belief in the unique and vital role the presidency plays in our national life … <\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that, in these turbulent times, Ireland needs a president who can bring people together and promote and represent our shared values and interests at home and abroad.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am asking for, and would be privileged to receive, your support based on my lifelong commitment to public service and my vision for the campaign and presidency … \u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Jim Gavin profile: Is former Dublin GAA manager a good fit for president?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Mr Gavin set out his agenda for the presidency, saying it will be \u201can active and positive one based on reaching out to every community at home as well as promoting and representing Ireland\u2019s values abroad, facilitating the use of the \u00c1ras for the people and promoting Ireland\u2019s language, culture, education and enterprise to the wider world\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Gavin said he was \u201crespectfully asking for your support at the parliamentary party and will contact, and hopefully meet you, over the coming days to discuss my potential candidacy\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018Are you insane\u2019: On the presidential campaign trail with Gareth Sheridan and Nick DelehantyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

A number of Fianna F\u00e1il TDs and Ministers have already declared their support for the Dubliner, including Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers; Minister for Housing James Browne; Minister for Further and Higher Education James Lawless<\/a>; and Dara Calleary Minister for Social Protection. <\/p>\n

Following the letter, Fianna F\u00e1il MEP Billy Kelleher, who yesterday announced his intention to also run for the \u00c1ras<\/a>, said on X that he wished Mr Gavin well. He said he is \u201clooking forward to a robust debate about how we put forward the values of Fianna F\u00e1il in the coming campaign and also the vision for the presidency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Gavin (54) was raised in Clondalkin but his parents were from west Clare. He joined the Air Corps as a cadet officer and trained as a pilot, rising quickly through the ranks. He became chief flying instructor and chief of military aviation in the Air Corps. He also served in overseas military operations, most notably in Chad.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Pat Leahy: There are landmines on the path to the presidency for every partyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

In his letter today he outlined that he has \u201ctaken on a number of key roles at the request of the Government \u2013 making proposals for improving the governance of our capital city and leading the North East Inner City\u2019s taskforce working to make this part of our capital city safe, attractive and a vibrant place to live and work in”. <\/p>\n

A trained commercial jet pilot, he has spent his post-Defence Forces career on the public service side, as a senior aviation regulator. He is currently chief operations officer of the Irish Aviation Authority where he has overall operational responsibility for air safety in Ireland. He is married and has two children. <\/p>\n

Independent TD Catherine Connolly<\/a> is still the only confirmed election candidate. Along with Mr Gavin and Mr Kelleher, a number of other people have annouced their desire to run for the \u00c1ras inculding conservative campaiger Maria Steen<\/a>; businessmen Gareth Sheridan<\/a> and Nick Delehanty<\/a> while former taoiseach Bertie Ahern yesterday declined to rule himself out<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Taoiseach Mich\u00e9al Martin has confirmed he is endorsing former Dublin football manager Jim Gavin to run as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,18,13,14,4771,6,19,17,19487,11,12,15,16,5765,5,59,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-33141","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-fianna-fail","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-jim-gavin","18":"tag-latest-news","19":"tag-latestnews","20":"tag-main-news","21":"tag-mainnews","22":"tag-micheal-martin","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-presidential-election","25":"tag-top-stories","26":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}