The mixed martial arts fighter has said he would force Ireland’s lawmakers to explain themselves to the public
Conor McGregor reacts after defeating Dennis Siver during the UFC Fight Night event in Boston, Massachusetts, January 18, 2015 © Getty images / Jeff Bottari
Former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor has suggested that he will run for president of Ireland next year, describing himself as “the only logical choice” for the role and promising to “summon” the country’s politicians before him to “answer to the people of Ireland.”
In a post to X on Thursday, McGregor said that he would use the limited powers of the Irish presidency to interrogate lawmakers, whom he called “thieves of the working man,” and “disrupters of the family unit.”
“As president I hold the power to summon the Dáil as well as dissolve it,” he wrote, using the Irish-language name for the country’s parliament. “These charlatans in their positions of power would be summoned to answer to the people of Ireland and I would have it done by day end. Or I would be left with no choice but to dissolve the Dáil entirely.”
“This would be my power as president… Ireland needs an active president employed wholly by the people of Ireland,” he continued. “It is me. I am the only logical choice. 2025 is upcoming…”
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Ireland’s current president, Michael D. Higgins, was elected in 2011 and is nearing the end of his second and final term in office. No candidates have formally entered the race to succeed Higgins yet, but former prime ministers Bertie Ahern and Enda Kenny and ex-Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams are widely considered to be potential contenders. The election will take place in late October of 2025.
McGregor emerged as a figurehead for the politically unrepresented Irish right wing last year, when he condemned the country’s immigration system after a foreign-born man stabbed three children outside a school in Dublin. McGregor described the stabbing suspect as “a grave danger among us in Ireland that should never be here in the first place,” and was accused by the Irish government of encouraging a wave of rioting and arson that broke out after the stabbings.
The UFC star hinted at a run for the presidency several weeks later, describing himself as “young, active, passionate, fresh skin in the game.” While his announcement drew international attention – including from X owner Elon Musk – it fell by the wayside this year as McGregor began training for his return to the octagon.
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However, McGregor’s much-anticipated welterweight bout with American Michael Chandler in July was canceled after the Irishman broke his toe. With a rescheduled fight reportedly in the works, McGregor has spent time on social media promoting his various brands and, in recent days, commenting on Irish politics.
After the Irish Times revealed that the government spent €336,000 in taxpayer money on a shelter for 18 bicycles outside parliament buildings, the former champion took to X on Wednesday to vent at the “greedy and corrupted bunch of chancers” who approved the project, adding that if he were president, the plan would have been “tor[n] apart on the spot.”
In order to run for the presidency, McGregor would require nominations from 20 members of parliament or four local authorities. With parliament and the local councils dominated by the parties of Ahern, Kenny, and Adams, it remains unclear if he could garner the necessary support.
