Conor McGregor has officially set his sights on Ireland’s highest office, declaring his intent to run in next month’s presidential election.
The 37-year-old Dubliner announced that he wants to be on the ballot to succeed Michael D. Higgins when voters head to the polls on October 24.
McGregor, a long-time critic of the Irish political establishment, framed his campaign as a fight for the people against a government he says has failed them.
Speaking in a video recorded outside Dáil Éireann, he opened with a direct message:
Good morning, citizens of Ireland. I am here today outside the office of the Taoiseach, where we are now over 200 days into the formation of the current government.
In these times, this government has cost us our peace of mind, our security, our hope for the future.
The general well-being of Irish citizens nationwide has decreased dramatically.We have seen the homelessness of Irish children rise to levels unprecedented, proving this government’s refusal to abide by and respect our Proclamation, which declares that all children of Ireland are to be cherished.
Instead, our children are abandoned.
McGregor also touched on immigration – one of the most divisive issues in Irish politics today – linking it to wider dissatisfaction with the government:
This incompetent failure of future generations has been accompanied by an intense influx of mass migration into an already severed system.
Our tourism has sharply declined, while danger on our streets has risen.
Casting himself as a man of action rather than words, McGregor declared:
Ireland, as a master of martial combat, as a solution-driven man, you will hear me speak on a problem but once.
Then it is action toward a solution. I urge all our citizens to be the same.
In the same speech, McGregor positioned himself as a direct representative of the people, contrasting himself with what he described as “appointed officials”:
… As your head of state, you empower me to enter these buildings on your behalf.
A president, face to face with government officials, with only one priority: to ensure that the country our founding fathers gave their lives for is strictly adhered to on behalf of its citizens.
He promised a presidency rooted in Ireland’s founding ideals:
Ireland under my tenure – the will of the people will be heard. Ireland under my tenure – we will return important articles of our constitution, prior and thus again aligning with Pádraig Pearse’s Proclamation: that we declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies.
Irish men and Irish women, in the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland through us summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom.
The nomination window for Ireland’s presidential election opened on September 5 and will remain open until midday on September 24.
The country heads to the polls on October 24.
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