Scrapping the entire thing gets my vote..

Straight talking...

- LARISSA NOLAN

I'M going one further than Declan Ganley, who is urging the nation to #SpoilTheVote.

I'm going beyond Maria Steen, who's calling for the election to be cancelled and a new one called.

I say: Let's get rid of the role of president altogether, as the presidential election has descended into such a farce.

Doing away with it would be preferable to having to make a Hobson's choice between Humphreys and Connolly, which amounts to being told: take it or leave it.

The presidency is supposed to be “above party politics” as we are forever reminded, yet it turns into a political deathmatch every seven years.

It’s an ego fight to see who can be the person “who takes precedence over all other persons in the state” in a ceremonial role.

It’s the high-paying, high-status plum position with minimal responsibility and all the glory and it costs the taxpayer €30million per term.

It was initially invented as one in the eye for the Brits, who had said we could not have a directly-elected head of state.