Request for Dana campaign at Knock rejected

The parish priest of Knock, Co Mayo, has turned down a request that Dana be allowed sing at the Basilica there to launch her campaign for the Presidency.

Monsignor Dominick Grealy said he thought it would be unwise to allow the shrine be used as part of any group's or individual's campaign, and especially one connected to party politics.

It is unclear who suggested to Monsignor Grealy that Dana be allowed sing at Knock yesterday or today. A nine-day national novena for Our Lady of Knock, which began yesterday, will be visited by up to 100,000 worshippers.

"Dana has often sung here before and she is always a thousand times welcome," Monsignor Grealy said. "She composed the hymn, The Golden Rose, which is really the Knock anthem, and so she is very closely linked with Knock and will always be so."

However, Monsignor Grealy said Knock was a place for prayer and peace and reconciliation. "I have always tried to ensure that no person or group would use Knock for any campaign."

A spokeswoman for Dana said Dana had not been aware that anyone was making an approach to Knock on her behalf. "If Dana is going to Knock then she will be going as a pilgrim and not as a presidential candidate," she said. There was no question of her trying to use the church as a platform for her campaign.

The Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is to be asked to support Dana's candidacy when it meets next month. An Independent councillor, Mr Richard Greene, has submitted a motion that the council "in the interests of democracy" supports Dana's attempt to run for the office.

The motion also stipulates that, should it be successful, the motion would be circulated to other councils seeking their approval of similar motions.

A presidential candidate needs the support of at least 20 members of the Oireachtas or four county councils and/or county borough councils for their name to go forward.

The county borough councils are Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Waterford corporations.

Mr Greene said he was asking his fellow councillors to "break the stranglehold of the political parties" on the office of President. He was asking them to support his motion "even if they might not agree ideologically with someone like Dana" who had a different "world vision" to that of all the other potential candidates. "She has a Christian world vision which has a large following in this country," he said.