A joint left candidate for the presidency largely depends on whether Sinn Féin decides to run its own candidate, People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy has said.
He said he hoped that Sinn Féin’s intentions might become clear next week.
“I would be very hopeful that we would have progress towards a joint left candidate before the Dail recess,” Mr Murphy said. “There is a meeting being scheduled for next week.
“Obviously Sinn Féin is having its own internal process to decide whether it will run a candidate or not . . . That’s pretty crucial. If they have their own candidate then there isn’t going to be a joint left candidate, certainly including Sinn Féin,” he said.
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“My understanding is that is due to end around now. So it makes sense to come back together, for Sinn Féin to report on the internal process, to say whether Sinn Féin, are they interested in pursuing further a joint left candidate or are they going to go their own way. And that’s a choice for them to make,” he said.
He said he hoped there would be a meeting to discuss this next week.
If Sinn Féin are agreeable to a joint left candidate, then the parties of the left should move “rapidly enough” to selecting a candidate.
Sinn Féin, Labour, theSocial Democrats, People Before Profit-Solidarity and the Greens have held exploratory talks about agreeing a “consensus candidate” in recent months, on the basis that their combined votes would be more than enough to secure a nomination and could also funnel significant numbers of voters towards a chosen candidate.
Mr Murphy said that People Before Profit was “very enthusiastic” about a candidate of the left.
“We think it can be won and we think Michael D Higgins is an example of how that position can be quite important, in the context of genocide, of rising racism, of homophobia, having a progress left voice in the presidency is politically important,” he said.
He said winning the presidency would be step in the direction of having a left-led government without Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael.
Asked if he had floated the names of possible candidates, Mr Murphy replied: “Yes.”
However, he would not be drawn on who they were.
If Sinn Féin decides to run its own candidate Mr Murphy said the rest of the left would have to decide how to respond but from People Before Profit’s perspective, it would be “much, much, much more preferable” to have Sinn Féin on board.
Also speaking on Tuesday, Labour TD Marie Sherlock said that there was “a whole kaleidoscope of names out there at the moment” but she expected that decisions would not be made until the end of August or the start of September
But she said that there was a “massive appetite out there” for someone to continue the “incredible legacy” of Mr Higgins.
“I think across the left we want to see there’s a strong and viable candidate going into November but I think those conversations are continuing,” she said.
