Kerry county councillors will today vote on whether they will support an independent candidate to get on the presidential election ballot paper.
Last week, 14 potential candidates seeking support from county councils made their pitch to councillors in Kerry.
The 14 people who addressed the Kerry councillors last week included Gareth Sheridan, Maria Steen, Nick Delehanty, Dr Donncha MacGabhann, Cllr Kieran McCarthy, Keith McGrory, and William P Allen.
The other seven independents with presidential ambitions were Lorna McCormack, Walter Ryan-Purcell, Dr Cora Stack, Gerben Uunk, Gearoid Duffy, Charlotte Keenan, and Sarah Louise Mulligan.
Kerry county councillors at the meeting also got the chance to ask questions of the potential candidates.
Anyone who wants to contest the presidential election must receive the support of at least four local authorities or 20 Oireachtas members ahead of October's election, if they are to get on the ballot paper.
Having heard pitches from those 14 independents last week, the county councillors will today vote on whether they will support any of them to get on the ballot paper.
First, councillors must decide whether they will allow a vote on individual candidates.
If that vote passes, any individual candidates will then need to be proposed and seconded by councillors.
Depending on how many candidates get that far, there will be a vote and whoever gets the most votes will receive the backing of the council; there is no threshold above 50%.
