More tea in Áras if elected says midlander Norris!

On a walkabout in Tullamore this week Presidential hopeful David Norris promised more people will be invited to the Áras for tea if he is elected. On the Wednesday afternoon visit to Tullamore's Bridge Centre he also highlighted his midlands ancestry. Senator Norris, whose schedule included visits to Athlone and Mullingar on the same day, said the welcome he had received in the midlands has been "really marvellous". Pondering the warm and fuzzy feelings he's encountered, the man who hopes to be President of Ireland suggests it might be down to the fact that he is in fact a midlander. On his mother's side, his ancestry in the midlands, more specifically Laois, goes back he says for 2,000 years. The senator's plan to invite more people round for tea if he can call the Áras home later this year came to light when questioned on his plans for the Presidential salary, and whether or not he would accept the entire salary that currently stands at over €300,000. "I don't have any dependents," he said. "I'm a single man and I'm not in it for the money. So I propose to put a portion aside." However he said he would not be giving the portion put aside back to the government "because it would just simply disappear and I don't know that it would be used for the correct purposes". "It is the peoples' money," he said. "It's the people who have voted for the President. The Presidency should be more accessible and more open, and I can tell you in the first year the majority of it I'll use for tea because every single person, the one thing they want - and this will be true whoever gets into Áras - the one thing they want is to have tea in Áras an Uachtaráin. "It sounds simple," he said defending the idea, "but we are a small nation. We are a family. I think it's quite appropriate and I love the idea." If elected President Senator Norris will be the third only Church of Ireland President of Ireland after first President Douglas Hyde and Erskine Childers. "It's an interest fact," Senator Norris said. "It'll be good for table quizzes!" The senator said he truly believes sectarian voting is no longer relevant. "One of the lovely things that I've noticed in this country over the last 60 years is the evaporation of the sectarian barriers, and I think that's really one wonderfully positive thing," he said. For him the goal is pure - to gain the "highest honour attainable for any citizen" and become Ireland's President next October. "To me, the role of the Presidency is to reflect the greatest aspects of our nation: our creativity, our imagination, our sense of fairness and justice," he said. "These are principles I hold dear. I feel I have something new to offer to the role of President. I believe I have the right mix of inspiration and compassion as well as the energy and enthusiasm to really make the Presidency relevant to the people of Ireland." Judging by Wednesday's walkabout the man has some local support. Cáit Cooney from Tullamore met him on the day and admitted afterwards she loves listening to the "very educated man". "When I heard that he was going for it I thought it was a great idea," she added. Liam Buckley and Mary Pender had a long chat with the senator, and came away impressed too. "He's not afraid to say what he means," Liam said.