Norris' fall from grace

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Just four and a half weeks before the election the polls showed him to be a legitimate threat to the ultimately victorious Michael D Higgins’s in the race for the Aras. So why was a candidate who  fought side by side with Mary Robinson to decriminalise homosexuality, travelled the world with his one man show James Joyce and even ran a temple bar club attended by Elton John and Freddie mercury left so far behind in the poll? 

After failing to reach the quota necessary to claim back expenses incurred over the course of the campaign Senator David Norris is set to lose his “life savings”. Although Mary Davis, Gay Mitchell and Dana Rosemary Scallon also failed to reach the quota of 12.5%, none have experienced such a public fall from grace as the Senator. 

Rocked by the scandal of the clemency letters and claims of social welfare fraud the Senator suffered a campaign of extraordinary highs and lows. In the end his passionate fight for the presidency could not stem the gradual disintegration of the trust of the Irish people. 

The lead up to polling day saw the presidential candidate fight for the student vote. The Thursday election day is a constant source of controversy for students. The Senator addressed this very issue during his visit to NUI Galway. Norris voiced his disappointment at the decision to have polling on a Thursday and speculated that it is a deliberate attempt to alienate the student vote. “I think that is a great pity and I think that is done deliberately to keep young people like you from voting.” 

Yet, perhaps, irrespective of this voting obstacle the damage to his reputation had been done. The same day a young student expressed her vehement disapproval and disillusionment at the claims that he committed social welfare fraud. The student who refused to shake the presidential candidates hand charged him with having been wrongfully in receipt of disability allowance.

The senator clearly corrected the false accusation: “I never got a disability allowance ever.” In reality it was “an income continuity insurance scheme” which was in place in Trinity College where he taught for 30 years.  On contracting hepatitis from water on an official trip to Budapest the Senator began drawing from the scheme when it was decided that he could not continue teaching. He was acting as a cultural ambassador at the time. Despite these efforts the young girl turned her back on the senator having refused his hand for the second time.

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In UCC the senator addressed a crammed lecture theatre of students ranging from commerce, arts and science. Speaking passionately the charismatic speaker addressed a broad range of issues in his usual eloquent manner which we have become so accustomed. He spoke of the referenda, women’s rights, and the “concerted effort” which was made to exclude him from the ballot paper. He reiterated a mantra from his campaign that he was the “only 24 carrot independent”. He later added:  “with me you get the full house.”

He spoke of his human rights work, of his passion for Ireland and everything in between. The speech was decorated with tales such as his encounters with Freddie Mercury and Elton John at the gay community centre/“discothèque” he ran in temple bar: “I admit I was the one who took a bottle of champagne from Elton John’s helper. I didn’t know who he was. I asked Freddie Mercury for his membership card.”

Yet on finishing, the student host thanked him for an “entertaining speech”, a remark which did not sit well with the senator: “I hope it was more than entertaining.” The charisma which is so lacking from Irish politics in general may well have led to his demise in the polls. Entertaining isn’t generally a term applied to the presidency of Ireland.

Although Senator David Norris is no longer in the glare of the presidency spotlight, the struggles of his campaign both financial and emotional will colour his thoughts and his future. For now senator, in the words of James Joyce “Your battles inspired me - not the obvious material battles but those that were fought and won behind your forehead.”