Independent councillor Jimmy Guerin, the brother of Veronica Guerin, has said presidential hopeful Catherine Connolly made a “grave error” over her willingness to nominate journalist Gemma O’Doherty to enter the 2018 president election.
During that election, Mr Guerin dismissed allegations made by Ms O’Doherty that the State was involved in the 1996 murder of his sister Veronica, the prominent crime journalist, describing them at the time as hurtful, offensive and “disgusting”.
People seeking to run for the presidency must secure nominations from 20 Oireachtas members or four local authorities.
Ms O’Doherty – who sought to enter the 2018 presidential election race running on an “anti-corruption” platform – was unsuccessful in her attempt to win enough nominations.
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She subsequently became involved in far-right and anti-immigration activism.
Ms Connolly was among a number of Oireachtas members who indicated they would support Ms O’Doherty’s bid to get on the ballot paper in 2018.
At a press conference this week Ms Connolly said she did not regret making the nomination, saying Ms O’Doherty “had done some good work as an investigative journalist”.
The Galway West TD added: “I didn’t know her personally, but I knew her role, and I gave her a nomination when the time came. That didn’t mean I was supporting her.”
She also said: “My judgment call was right at the time. Do I regret what’s happened in relation to her? Absolutely. Do I support her in any way? Not at all.”
Mr Guerin, a representative on Fingal County Council, said he sought to contact all Oireachtas members in 2018, asking them not to help Ms O’Doherty secure a nomination.
He told The Irish Times he was “most disappointed” that when Ms Connolly “was questioned about her role in supporting the nomination of Gemma O’Doherty, she didn’t take the opportunity to acknowledge she made a serious, grave error”.
He also said: “I think her failure to do that shows me that in my opinion she’s not a person suitable to be running for office, let alone to be elected to it.”
Ms Connolly said in response that to the best of her knowledge she had never received correspondence from Mr Guerin on the matter.
She said she undertook “a comprehensive search” of office records and it revealed only one email received from Mr Guerin in relation to a different issue.
Ms Connolly said: “It is possible that such an email could have been lost amongst constituency and parliamentary inquiries, which is highly regrettable if that is the case.”
She added: “Had I been aware, I certainly would have taken the gravity of Mr Guerin’s concerns into account and carefully considered same before making my decision at that time. My thoughts continue to be with Mr Guerin and his family.”
Mr Guerin said he accepted it is possible Ms Connolly did not get the email or did not see it and he could “understand how emails could go to constituency or spam”.
He also said: “Judging by the number of Oireachtas members who contacted me at the time it was well known amongst Oireachtas members – and amongst many members of the public – our views and our objections to Gemma O’Doherty receiving support” from local authorities or Oireachtas members.
Brian Meehan, from Crumlin, was convicted in 1999 of Ms Guerin’s murder after a trial before the non-jury Special Criminal Court. John Gilligan, who led the gang that killed Ms Guerin, was tried for, but acquitted of, her murder.
In a statement Ms O’Doherty made criticisms of Ms Connolly and Mr Guerin as well as The Irish Times and suggested this publication could do some “proper journalism”.
She contended that someone who is “anti-corruption” has “no chance” of being selected to run in a presidential election. Ms O’Doherty repeated her allegations of State involvement in Ms Guerin’s murder.
