Presidential election hopeful in Offaly for Tullamore Show

FIRST-time presidential candidate Gareth Sheridan believes he will secure a nomination to enter the race for the Aras.

The Dublin native was speaking at the Tullamore Show where he revealed he is confident he will get the support of four local authorities which will allow his name to be on the ballot paper in the contest to succeed President Michael D Higgins.

Mr Sheridan would not say which councils will back him but said: “I've been meeting with councillors for the better part of a year now and we're putting the plans in motion.”

He added: “At the very least we'll have proposers and seconders in more than four.”

The businessman, who will turn 36 on August 24 next, will not seek a nomination as an independent candidate through the other route, which involves getting the support of 20 members of the Oireachtas.

One of the many local people to greet Mr Sheridan at the Tullamore Show was a local Fianna Fail representative, Cllr Declan Harvey.

Offaly County Council will meet to decide which potential candidate, if any, it will endorse for a nomination.

Cllr Harvey said to Mr Sheridan: “Best of luck to you. If you come in to us we'll have a chat.”

Afterwards Mr Sheridan commented: “We've been meeting with Independent councillors primarily.”

Fianna Fail has yet to announce its plans for the presidential election which must take place by November 11 next.

Mr Sheridan, who now lives in Stillorgan and is married to Heidi, a woman from Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, went to school in Stratford College, Dublin.

“I moved to Terenure College to play rugby and let everyone down when I wasn't very good,” he laughed.

Mr Sheridan is now best known as the founder and chief executive of Nutriband, a company listed on the US Nasdaq.

“Over the weekend, as I am obliged to do, I officially informed the US Securities and exchange commission, Nasdaq, our board and our shareholders, that I would be stepping aside as Chief Executive of the Nasdaq listed company I founded, Nutriband, to seek a nomination to be on the ballot paper to contest Ireland’s upcoming Presidential Election.”

He has returned to Ireland after seven years in the United States. The couple have one daughter, Roe.

Mr Sheridan is trading on his youth in advance of the presidential campaign formally kicking off.

“I believe there has never been a time in our country’s history where the choice of a younger candidate being on the ballot paper has been more relevant or important than today.”

He is being supported by Gavin Duffy, 65, the businessman and Dragons' Den judge who was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2018 Irish presidential election.

Said Mr Sheridan: “Ireland is a very different place from it was seven years ago. I'm happy to have support from various different backgrounds. Gavin has given me great advice having done it before and I value that but we've got supporters from all different backgrounds, all different viewpoints. I think it's vitally important to come at it with an open mind and not come in with the left/right politics that we're seeing so often lately.”

Speaking to the Tullamore Tribune, Mr Sheridan outlined why he has decided to run for president: “It's not in my personality to stand back and be idle when I see something that can be fixed and if I feel I can make an impact I like to dive in. My own company that I built and is based in America is completely based around making sure that people that could not access basic pain management could get care again.

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“I think there's a group of people in Ireland, a very large group of people, that feel they are being under treated as well so I feel it's the right time in our history for a younger candidate to come in and breathe a bit of life.”

Mr Sheridan said he has voted in previous Irish elections but would not say which parties or candidates he has supported.

“I like to look at things more pragmatically, the politics of commonsense I would say. It's situational, it's of the time, what the best choice is going to be at that time, that's very important to me,” he stated.

“Unfortunately over the last seven years I've been mostly abroad and I haven't been able to participate but I've kept a very keen eye. I was lucky enough to get home quite frequently and what really bothers me is we're on the brink of being the perfect economy and there's just a little bit of enthusiasm needed. That starts with younger people feeling like they have representation.”

Mr Sheridan's company, Nutriband, has developed an abuse-deterrent painkiller which aims to help combat the opioid addiction crisis in the US.

Nutriband is preparing for the commercialisation of its product pending FDA approval.