DUBLIN

CONOR MCGREGOR HAS confirmed a recent Kookaburra Bugle story about his leadership qualities by announcing that he will run for President of his native Ireland this year.

“This is the headache official Ireland was dreading,”says Dr Peadar O’Peadar, whose recent book Official Ireland Is Dead And Gone: It’s With Anglo Irish Bank In Bankruptcy, was published by Mercy Press last week. “Even if he doesn’t win, he only has to get nominated first – which is no mean achievement – and a decent vote if the does, to send shock waves through the country. Remember the vote Gerry Hutch got in the recent general election. Hutch was a known criminal, and he still got a respectable vote. McGregor has been vilified in open court, plus he’s somewhat rough around the edges and utterly shameless as far as publicizing himself. And – and this is crucial – he has buckets of confidence and money. He is loathed by the liberal elite in Dublin. He’s like an old Gaelic clan chief come back to life to remind them of what they once were. Compare him to the incumbent, Michael D Higgins, who leaves office this year: an academic, a supremely cultured left-winger, official Ireland’s poster boy, if you like, whose answer to everything seems to be another poetry reading, summer school or literary festival. McGregor is an explosion from a different Ireland. A time perhaps when Irish people knew who they were and what they wanted, and fought for it. His template is Donald Trump – Make America Great Again has become Make Ireland Great Again. When was Ireland last great? A long long time ago. You may not like him, he’s definitely not to everyone’s taste, but you certainly cannot ignore McGregor. Whoever does go up against him, should he get over the difficult entrance hurdles, they’ll have their work cut out.”