Irish UFC star Conor McGregor has hit back at an Irish senator for comments she made about him in response to a series of tweets about his potential candidacy for the upcoming Irish presidential race in 2025.
Michael D Higgins' second term will soon end, and with that, a new individual will take over Ireland's presidential duties in Aras an Uachtaráin.
The names being linked to the post are former Taoiseachs Bertie Ahern, Enda Kenny, and Gerry Adams. McGregor has also expressed his interest through a series of tweets.
McGregor, known for being vocal about the current Irish government's handling of the country, wrote this week: "Potential competition if I run. Gerry, 78. Bertie, 75. Enda, 74. Each with unbreakable ties to their individual party's politics. Regardless of what the public outside of their parties feel. These parties govern themselves vs. governing the people.
"Or me, 35. Young, active, passionate, fresh skin in the game. I listen. I support. I adapt. I have no affiliation/bias/favouritism toward any party. They would genuinely be held to account about the current sway of public feeling.
"I’d even put it all to a vote. There’d be votes every week to make sure. I can fund. It would not be me in power as President, people of Ireland. It would be me and you."
For that to happen, the Dubliner would need to be nominated by either 20 Oireachtas members or four local authorities. It is an unlikely scenario, but that hasn't stopped outlets in Ireland from asking current people in Irish politics about McGregor's intentions.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) December 8, 2023
According to The Irish Sun, they surveyed the current crop of Independent TDs and Senators to gauge the level of support McGregor might get if he sought their nomination, and not one politician said they’d back him.
Of 33 independents, 12 responded to The Irish Sun, and none offered McGregor their support. TD Thomas Pringle commented to the paper: “I wouldn’t nominate him to lace my shoes," while Michael Healy-Rae said: “No, I wouldn’t support him. Leave the politics to the politicians and the boxing to the boxers.”
"I wouldn’t even nominate him to wash the dishes," Senator Eileen Flynn also told the outlet. "That’s the straight, honest truth of it. End of story.”
McGregor has fired back at Senator Flynn for her remarks and described the Dublin woman as a "token hire" and suggested she should also brush her teeth.
"[I was] just reading an article. Just reading the latest hit piece from the rag that is the f*****g rag of all rags, The Sun. The Sun where the sun doesn't shine. Senator Eileen Flynn has said [that] she wouldn't nominate me to washing the dishes.
"How disrespectful. Senator, I nominate you to brush your teeth and see the dentist because if ever it was a cause to bring back masks, I would call for it. You weren't even voted in. You were nominated as a token. So, I’d appreciate lesser the disrespect.”
This comes a week after Gardaí were examining some of McGregor’s social media posts in the run-up to the Dublin riots as part of an investigation into an alleged incident of hatred.
You can read The Irish Sun's report in full right here.
