McGuinness secures backing of four Independent TDs
Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness has won the support of four Independent TDs and can now enter the Presidential race.
Deputies Luke 'Ming' Flanagan, Finian McGrath, Michael Healy-Rae and Tom Fleming have all given their backing, and 17 Sinn Féin Oireachtas members are expected to do the same.
Their support means Mr McGuinness has secured more than the 20 Oireachtas signatures necessary for him to be added to the ballot paper.
The North's Deputy First Minister is due to be officially ratified as Sinn Féin's candidate at the party's Ard Comhairle tomorrow. He will temporarily step aside from his Stormont duties to take part in the campaign.
Speaking this evening, Dublin North Central TD Finian McGrath said he was happy to give Mr McGuinness the final push over the line.
"If Martin McGuinness is good enough for the DUP and the official unionists and good enough for Alan McBride, the victim of the Shankill road bomb, I think it's good enough for many people in the South. That would be my position," he said.
