2011 Irish presidential election "foisted on him and he had not known anything about it and what it would involve". This followed unease among Fianna Fáil parliamentary party Oireachtas members, with a number unhappy that a candidate was being imposed by the leadership without discussion. On 16 August 2011, the "Irish Examiner" reported that Micheál Martin had moved to pull the party out of the presidential race over the fallout from the approach to Gay Byrne, the cost involved and the slim chance of a candidate being elected. On 24 August, however, the party's deputy leader Éamon Ó Cuív told Raidió na Gaeltachta that
1959 Irish presidential election was inaugurated as president on 25 June. 1959 Irish presidential election The Irish presidential election of 1959 was held on 17 June 1959. Éamon de Valera, then Taoiseach, was elected as president of Ireland. A referendum proposed by de Valera to replace the electoral system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote with first-past-the-post voting which was held on the same day was defeated by 48.2% to 52.8%. Under Article 12 of the Constitution of Ireland, a candidate for president may be nominated by: Outgoing president Seán T. O'Kelly had served two terms, and was ineligible to