Former presidential candidate Seán Gallagher has said he will not be running to succeed Michael D. Higgins in Áras an Uachtaráin.
Mr Gallagher finished second in the 2011 presidential election after being regarded as the front-runner for much of the campaign.
However, during an RTÉ Frontline programme, the final debate of the campaign, a Twitter post wrongly claiming a man had given Mr Gallagher money for a Fianna Fáil fundraiser was read out by presenter Pat Kenny.
The businessman, a former Dragons’ Den panellist, had run as an Independent candidate but his opponents accused him of being a proxy for Fianna Fáil, which was in the doldrums after the EU-IMF bailout and a disastrous general election in 2011.
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The incident, just three days before polling day, derailed Mr Gallagher’s momentum. Mr Higgins received more than 700,000 votes as he won his first term as president. Mr Gallagher polled more than 500,000 first-preference votes.
RTÉ later apologised to Mr Gallagher and paid him substantial damages for statements made on the programme. It acknowledged the programme “fell significantly short of the standards expected by the public and required by law”.
Mr Gallagher would run again in 2018 but made little impression on that occasion, polling just 6.4 per cent.
He was rumoured to be considering another run at the presidency this year, and was seen in discussion with Independent TDs in Leinster House on two recent occasions.
He had previously declined to confirm or deny any intentions. However, he on Thursday told The Irish Times he does not intend to enter the race.
Fine Gael this week nominated former European commissioner Mairead McGuinness as its candidate, while Independent TD Catherine Connolly launched her campaign on Wednesday.
