David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

No, but I was at a few good ones.I understand that for constitutional reasons we cannot extend this beyond the European and local authority elections, but ideally it should operate for the general election, which is the crucial thing.

While there was some discussion of this at the Constitutional Convention, I must record that the most significant element with regard to elections, particularly the presidential election was something I argued for. I got it on despite the fact that it was a highly managed event. It was actually micro-managed. There were Government officers going around the place focusing, organising, selecting items for the agenda and all the rest of it. Despite them, I managed to table a motion to extend to the general public the right to nominate candidates for the presidency. It was passed by 97% of the vote. It was by far the highest vote yet it has been completely and utterly ignored by the political parties. That is an important issue. By the way, one of my political colleagues got into a terrible temper about this and said it was because I was going to run for the presidency again. I have not the slightest intention of going near it again.