REACTION:SENATOR DAVID Norris made the right decision to withdraw from the presidential race, a number of Independent TDs who supported him have said.
Independent TD for Dublin North Central Finian McGrath welcomed Mr Norris’s decision to stand down his campaign.
“David Norris made the right decision in light of recent developments. I welcome the fact that he accepted that he made a major mistake in relation to the content of the [clemency] letter he wrote on behalf of Ezra Nawi,” he said. “This issue for me was not about David Norris but was always about the rights of a 15-year-old boy.”
Mr McGrath was one of three Independent Dáil supporters of Mr Norris’s presidential bid, along with Donegal South West TD Thomas Pringle and Waterford TD John Halligan, who announced on Monday night they were withdrawing their support.
Mr Pringle said that, like Mr McGrath, he had consulted with his supporters over the weekend and had decided he could no longer back the Norris campaign. He said the decision was taken on the basis that the letter Mr Norris had written was deeply inappropriate and wrong.
Maureen O’Sullivan was one of five TDs who expressed support for Mr Norris’s candidacy, notwithstanding the controversy. Yesterday she said she was disappointed at the decision, which she believed was bad for democracy.
“My reason for supporting him was that I believed that he should have the chance to stand. It was then up to the will of the Irish people. If they wanted to roundly and soundly reject him that should have been their right.”
She said the majority of e-mails she had received supported the view, but that a minority of correspondence had been insulting to her.
“I saw the nasty side of politics. Some of the e-mails were very abusive. I had not expected to get that kind of abusive e-mail,” she said.
Stephen Donnelly, Independent TD for Wicklow, had suspended his support for Mr Norris pending clarification of the questions surrounding his correspondence.
Last night, he said Mr Norris was right to retire from the race and said his chances of getting the backing of 20 Oireachtas members were extremely slim.
“I welcome his acknowledgment that writing the letters he wrote was wrong and his actions for which he sought clemency for his ex-partner were terrible, as he himself put it.
“It is still my belief that it is only the people of Ireland who decide who should be the president. That choice should not fall to a handful of TDs and senators,” said Mr Donnelly.
The Labour candidate for the presidency, Michael D Higgins, paid tribute to the “grace” of Mr Norris’s statement.
“It is obvious that it was a difficult decision for him personally, at the end of a difficult period for himself, his family and his campaign workers.
“As somebody who has shared membership of the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee for a number of years, I wish to pay tribute to his long-standing record around issues of human rights at home and abroad.”
A spokesman for Fine Gael presidential candidate Gay Mitchell said Mr Mitchell had not commented in any way and would not do so now.
The Independent presidential candidate Mary Davis said Mr Norris had a long record as a vocal human rights campaigner.
“I can only imagine how difficult today’s decision was for him and I wish him well,” she said.
The other Independent presidential candidate, Seán Gallagher, said that he felt for Mr Norris “on a personal and a human level”.
