Sir Bob Geldof says: ‘I do want something new, stimulating and useful to do’. Photo / Getty Images
Sir Bob Geldof is considering becoming the latest high-profile figure to join the race to become the next President of Ireland.
The Boomtown Rats frontman said it would be an “enormous privilege” to serve as the Irish head of state before an election that must be held before November 11 and is expected in late October.
“I do want something new, stimulating and useful to do,” he told the Irish Independent on Monday night.
If he does run, the driving force behind Live Aid will join a field expected to feature Michael Flatley, the Riverdance star, and Conor McGregor, the MMA fighter.
Geldof, 73, held sounding out talks over the presidency with Taoiseach Micheal Martin on Friday.
The Irish Premier told him that he was backing Jim Gavin, a former Gaelic football manager, as Fianna Fail’s candidate for the presidency.
Gavin led Dublin to six All Ireland Senior Football Championship titles in a period of era-defining dominance similar to that enjoyed by Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.
Geldof is still mulling running for a role that has little power but is rich in symbolism and seen as the keeper of the nation’s conscience.
He is understood to have not been seeking the Fianna Fail nomination to replace the 84-year-old Michael D. Higgins, a left-wing politician and poet who has served since 2011.
In order to run, the County Dublin-born activist would have to be nominated by at least 20 members of the Irish parliament or at least four local authorities.
Sir Bob said he was “flattered” to be suggested as the next president and that “people believe me capable of executing the job”.
“There is a bit of a dilemma involved in being presented with it even as a possibility,” he told the Irish Independent.
He added: “But it’s true I do want something new, stimulating and useful to do in the next chapter. Representing the Irish people, who contributed so incredibly to Live Aid and who have become known throughout the world – and rightly so – for their immense compassion, would be an enormous privilege.
“Whether Irish people want me to do that job or not is an entirely different question. So clearly, this is something to which I would really have to give careful consideration.”
“There was contact made by people on behalf of Bob Geldof,” a spokesman for the Taoiseach told Irish media.
“The Taoiseach rang him as a courtesy and they had a very serious and good engagement, but he [Martin] had made a commitment to Jim Gavin.”
A spokesman for Geldof said: “Yes, we can confirm that Bob and the Taoiseach had a very cordial conversation on Friday.
“Separately, Bob has received numerous messages calling on him to step up and run. There’s also clearly a movement online and elsewhere which thinks he would make a very exciting candidate – with the requisite profile to represent Ireland on the international stage at this turbulent time.”
Geldof has turned down two previous offers to run for the presidency but sources close to the star said this time could be different.
He was granted an honorary knighthood by the late Queen in 1986, which he accepted after getting the permission of the Irish Government of the time.
The humanitarian’s politics would clash sharply with McGregor if the fighter, who recently lost a civil case for rape, gets the necessary support to run. There are also questions over whether Flatley would clear the threshold to join the race.
The MMA champion turned anti-immigrant firebrand declared his intention to run for President in March this year at the White House, where he gained the tacit endorsement of US President Donald Trump.
Niall Quinn, the former Manchester City and Sunderland striker, was also mentioned as a possible candidate earlier this year, but momentum behind the pundit has since dissipated.
Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are in coalition together but will nominate their own candidates for the presidency.
Heather Humphreys, a former minister, was confirmed as Fine Gael’s candidate on Tuesday. Mairead McGuinness, ex-EU commissioner and European Parliament deputy speaker, was set to be Fine Gael’s candidate but withdrew for health reasons.
Other names mooted as possible candidates to run include Gerry Adams, the former Sinn Fein leader, or Mary Lou McDonald, the current leader.
McDonald said on Monday that a decision would be made next week on whether Sinn Fein, the opposition, would put forward a candidate or back another.
She has not ruled herself out after a disappointing general election last year.
It is understood that Ireland will head to the polls on October 24. It has been reported that James Browne, the housing minister, will bring a memo to the coalition Cabinet this week confirming the date.
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