DANA ROSEMARY Scallon said she was determined to see her campaign “through to the end” as she canvassed in Sligo, Mayo, Galway and Donegal.
The candidate spent less than an hour in Sligo on Saturday where she was reluctant to engage with reporters but was urged by a number of people to “fight on”.
When asked about the controversy which surfaced last week involving her family, she replied: “I am going to leave it behind me. I am standing by my statement.”
Ms Scallon was emotional when asked if she believed there would be a reconciliation with her sister. “My mother always wished we would never do anything to hurt the family name – that we would stay close as a family,” she said.
The candidate was accompanied by her husband Damien Scallon, who kept very close during the walkabout and by her brother Gerry Brown.
Asked whether John Brown would be returning to the campaign, Mr Scallon said he hoped so. He said Mr Brown had gone to England for his daughter’s birthday party. Questioned on how Mr Brown was taking the controversy, he said: “How would you take it?”
On Friday, Ms Scallon’s sister, Susan Stein, said she and her husband stood over the evidence he gave to a court in Iowa that John Brown, Dana’s brother, had sexually abused the Steins’ daughter.
Mr Brown denied the accusation during the US case and Ms Scallon has described it as “vile” and “malicious”.
Ms Stein's statement came two days after Ms Scallon referred on a Prime Timepresidential debate to "vile and false" allegations which were being made against a member of her family.
Questioned by reporters later in Castlebar, it was put to Ms Scallon that the controversy might never have arisen if she had not raised it herself in the RTÉ debate. Ms Scallon replied: “It would have surfaced through the social networks and once it surfaces on the social networks then it comes into the papers. It was actually a freelance reporter who said it was definitely appearing over the next two days in one of our big daily papers. Under legal advice I took the steps to issue a statement.”
Fellow Independent candidate Seán Gallagher, who was on the campaign trail in counties Meath and Cavan yesterday, described his surge in the polls as “hugely heartwarming” but he said he was not going to be complacent. People were responding to his message of hope and positivity at a time when both attributes were in short supply, he said.
Arriving in Ashbourne in a black Mercedes accompanied by his wife Trish, Mr Gallagher was greeted by canvassers one of whom was Fianna Fáil councillor Nick Killian, who stressed he was there in a personal capacity, and some students from Dublin City University. When asked if his past would stand up to scrutiny, he replied: “I’m happy to answer any questions that anybody has to put to me about this election.”
Labour presidential candidate Michael D Higgins responded to the surge in support for Mr Gallagher by urging voters not to go for “a revival of a failed option of the leftovers of the Celtic Tiger”.
In a thinly veiled attack on Mr Gallagher, who has repeatedly stressed his business credentials, Mr Higgins called on the electorate to “look at the record” when talking about the creation of jobs.
Yesterday's Red C/ Sunday Business Postpoll showed Mr Gallagher leading for the first time. The poll shows support for the Independent candidate rising 18 points to 39 per cent, 12 points ahead of Mr Higgins, who rose two points to 27 per cent.
Support for the remaining candidates has fallen away with all losing support, the poll shows. Martin McGuinness is down 3 per cent to 13 per cent while David Norris’s support fell to 7 per cent. Support for Mary Davis has slipped to 4 per cent while Dana Rosemary Scallon has just 2 per cent support.
The poll was taken ahead of the controversial RTÉ Prime Timepresidential debate last Wednesday.