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Not one of 134 Irish politicians who replied to a Sky News survey would support Conor McGregor’s ambition to become the country’s president.

Comments ranged from “not a hope in hell” to “I could not think of anyone more unfit” and “I would genuinely rather we didn’t have a president at all”.

The former MMA champion, who is appealing a civil case in which a jury found that he raped a woman, needs significant backing before he would be allowed to stand.

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McGregor praises Trump and hits out at Irish PM

McGregor used a St Patrick’s Day meeting with Donald Trump in the Oval Office to further his aim to run in the election, which must be held by November.

Days later he formally announced on social media he would seek election and stand on an anti-immigration platform.

Candidates must garner the support of 20 Oireachtas (parliament) members, or the backing of four of Ireland’s local authorities in order to stand.

There are 234 Oireachtas members: 174 TDs or members of the lower house, the Dail, and 60 senators.

Sky News asked each one if they would give McGregor a nomination. A total of 104 TDs and 30 senators replied.

Every one of the 134 politicians said they would not support McGregor running. None chose the “maybe” option.

Read more: Why McGregor has ‘close to zero chance’ of becoming Ireland’s next president

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‘Ireland and America are siblings’

Sky News asked: Would you nominate McGregor for a presidential candidate? Irish politicians answered:

“I consider him to be a tacky, moronic vulgarian. I would never consider him even remotely a suitable person for a nomination.” – Senator

“He’s a misogynist and a thug. On behalf of the women of Ireland he can f*** off.” – TD

“McGregor has become the cheerleader for misogyny in Ireland… a populist buffoon.” – Senator

“I genuinely would struggle to think of anyone worse to hold that position.” – Garret Ahearn, Fine Gael senator

“I could not think of anyone more unfit for public office.” – Duncan Smith, Labour TD

“There is no evidence Mr McGregor has the necessary skillset for the role.” – Malcolm Byrne, Fianna Fail TD

“There isn’t a snowball’s chance… he made a show of himself in Washington DC last week and with no elected mandate he certainly does not “speak for Irish people” when he travels overseas.” – Cathal Crowe, Fianna Fail TD

“Conor McGregor’s divisive behaviour and rhetoric would be completely unsuitable for such a role.” – Maeve O’Connell, Fine Gael TD

“As a mother of four young boys I have far more ambition for them than to have someone like that in a position of respectability.” – Erin McGreehan, Fianna Fail TD

Sky News has approached McGregor’s representative for comment on our findings. None has yet been received.

If McGregor chooses to pursue the council route to a nomination, he may not find it much easier, according to Gary Murphy, professor of politics at Dublin City University.

“The difficulty there is they are also dominated by the political parties. And so I think he would find this extremely difficult to actually get on the ballot.

“Now there is a big independent vote in Ireland, and maybe McGregor is targeting that, but the problem with that independent vote here in Ireland is that it’s very left wing and he’s not.”

Many don’t believe McGregor actually wants to be president

This is not an exhaustive or a very scientific poll, and several strong-willed independent politicians declined to give a view, despite repeated emails, calls and WhatsApps.

So it is still possible Conor McGregor could pick up a few nominations from the Oireachtas… should he ask.

But the 134-strong No camp – combined with the scathing replies we received – paints a picture of the strength of opposition to McGregor running.

That is of course, assuming he actually wants to be president. There are many who don’t believe he does.

Pretty much anyone can run in Irish general elections, and we had one of those a few short months ago.

McGregor was nowhere to be seen. But every time he posts about his political ambitions, he is lauded as the “Irish Trump” by a mostly American fanbase.

It could be a strategy to further burnish his reputation and brand in America, rather than a sincere desire to embrace a restrictive seven-year stint of often symbolic public service back home.

McGregor is currently appealing the result of a civil case in which a Dublin jury found he had raped a woman, Nikita Hand, in 2018 and ordered him to pay her damages. He also faces a civil case in Florida, where a woman claims he sexually assaulted her at a basketball game in Miami in 2023. His legal team says the allegation is “false”.

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Ransacked and looted: Sky reporter returns to family home left in ruins after war in Sudan

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Ransacked and looted: Sky reporter returns to family home left in ruins after war in Sudan

The biggest city in the Sahel has been ransacked and left in ruins.

War erupted in Sudan’s capital Khartoum in April 2023 and sent millions searching for safety.

The city was quickly captured by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) after a power struggle with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) for total control.

At least 61,000 people were killed from the fighting and siege conditions in Khartoum state alone.

Thousands more were maimed and many remain missing.

The RSF fled Khartoum’s neighbourhoods in caravans carrying the city’s looted treasures as the army closed in and recaptured it after two years of occupation.

The empty streets they left behind are lined with charred, bullet-ridden buildings and robbed store fronts.

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The once shiny skyscrapers built along the confluence of the River Nile are now husks of blackened steel.

The neighbourhoods are skeletal. Generational homes are deserted and hollow.

Damage around Khartoum
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Damage from fighting around Khartoum

Damage around Khartoum

Trenches snake the streets where copper electric cables were ripped out of the ground and pulled out of lampposts now overridden with weeds.

The majority of the 13 million people displaced by this war fled Khartoum. Many left in a rush, assuming it would only take a few weeks for peace to be restored.

My parents were among those millions and in the midst of the abandoned, looted homes is the house where I grew up.

Yousra Elbagir's family home was left in ruins by RSF troops
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Yousra Elbagir’s family home was left in ruins by RSF troops

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Yousra said it was likely a bomb had previously fallen nearby and shaken the house at its base

A shell of a home

I have to strain my eyes to see the turn to my house. All the usual markers are gone. There are no gatherings of young people drinking coffee with tea ladies in the leafy shade – just gaping billboard frames that once held up advertisements behind cars of courting couples parked by the Nile.

Our garden is both overgrown and dried to death.

The mango, lemon and jasmine trees carefully planted by my mother and brother have withered.

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Image:
Structural damage to the outside of the home

The Bougainvillea has reached over the pathway and blocked off the main entrance. We go through the small black side door.

Our family car is no longer in the garage, forcing us to walk around it.

It was stolen shortly after my parents evacuated.

The two chairs my mum and dad would sit at the centre of the front lawn are still there, but surrounded by thorny weeds and twisted, bleached vines.

Yousra Elbagir's family home in Khartoum before RSF's takeover of the city
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How the home looked before Sudan’s war

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And how it looks now

The neighbour’s once lush garden is barren too.

Their tall palm trees at the front of the house have been beheaded – rounding off into a greyish stump instead of lush fronds.

Read more:
How recaptured palace is a significant sign of return to order
Sudan’s paramilitary chief announces rival government

Everyone in Khartoum is coming back to a game of Russian roulette. Searching out their houses to confirm suspicions of whether it was blasted, burned or punctured with bullets.

Many homes were looted and bruised by nearby combat but some are still standing. Others have been completely destroyed.

Yousra Elbagir's family home in Khartoum before RSF's takeover of the city
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How the home looked before the war

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And how it looks now

The outside of our house looks smooth from the street but has a crack in the base of the front wall visible from up close.

It is likely a bomb fell nearby and shook the house at its base – a reminder of the airstrikes and shelling that my parents and their neighbours fled.

Inside, the damage is choking.

Most of the furniture has been taken except a few lone couches.

The carpets and curtains have been stripped. The electrical panels and wiring pulled out. The appliances, dishes, glasses and spices snatched from the kitchens.

Yousra Elbagir shows her mother pictures found in the home
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Yousra shows her mother pictures found in the home

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The walls are bare apart from the few items they decided to spare. Ceilings have been punctured and cushions torn open in their hunt for hidden gold.

The walls are marked with the names of RSF troops that came in and out of this house like it was their own.

The home that has been the centre of our life in Sudan is a shell.

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Sudan’s war has left the country fractured

Glimmers of hope

The picture of sheer wreckage settles and signs of familiarity come into focus.

A family photo album that is 20 years old.

The rocking chair my mother cradled me and my sister in. My university certificate.

Yousra Elbagir finds her university degree certificate in the wreckage
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Yousra finds her university certificate in the wreckage

Celebratory snaps of my siblings’ weddings. Books my brother has had since the early nineties.

The painting above my bed that I have pined over during the two years – custom-made and gifted to me for my 24th birthday and signed by my family on the back.

There are signs of dirt and damage on all these items our looters discarded but it is enough.

Yousra's parents pictured at home before they fled Khartoum
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Yousra’s parents pictured at home before they fled Khartoum

Evidence of material destruction but a reminder of what we can hope will endure.

The spirit of the people that gathered to laugh, cry and break bread in these rooms.

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A portrait of Yousra Elbagir's grandmother which was damaged by RSF troops
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A portrait of Yousra’s grandmother damaged by RSF troops

The hospitality and warmth of a Sudanese home with an open door.

The community and sense of togetherness that can never truly be robbed.

What remains in our hearts and our city is a sign of what will get us through.

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Unpredictable and disruptive or canny and persistent – what exactly is Donald Trump’s foreign policy?

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Unpredictable and disruptive or canny and persistent - what exactly is Donald Trump's foreign policy?

So, after 100 days of Donald Trump the big question for me remains – does the US president have a coherent foreign policy or is he just winging it?

Let’s take his attitude to the war in Ukraine – here “inconsistent” is perhaps the best description.

Back in February, he and vice president JD Vance humiliated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by shouting at him in the Oval Office.

A few days later, I spoke to Mr Zelenskyy in person when he confided to me that maybe he would have to step down if NATO could guarantee Ukraine membership – a man who perhaps sensed he could never win against a hostile Mr Trump.

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Sky News meets Zelenskyy: The key moments

Yet, fast-forward to last weekend in Rome, and an iconic picture of the two men in close conversation at the Pope’s funeral.

This time round, it is Russian President Vladimir Putin on the receiving end of the presidential anger, blaming him for the fact that “too many people are dying!”

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and President Donald Trump, talk as they attend the funeral of Pope Francis in Vatican, Saturday, April 26, 2025.(Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
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Trump and Zelenskyy talk in the Vatican. Pic: AP

To Trump’s supporters, this is the smart negotiator, constantly repositioning himself as new information comes in, prior to pulling off a spectacular deal.

To his many detractors, it indicates a dangerous incoherence that is replicated in other key areas, including tariffs as well as his relationship with his allies in Europe and his foes in Beijing.

Trump 100: Read more
Tariffs, DOGE, diet coke: 100 days in 100 words
Trump’s awkward reckoning 100 days in

How an immigration crackdown has changed lives

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Flexible or fallible; in control or all at sea? In the fast and furious world of Donald Trump, it’s almost impossible to call.

The only constants are his unwavering self-belief, or as the man himself says: “I aim very high, and then I just keep pushing and pushing and pushing to get what I’m after.”

We shall see.

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Gaza aid worker detained after Israeli attack has been released

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Gaza aid worker detained after Israeli attack has been released

A paramedic in Gaza who was detained for more than five weeks following an Israeli attack that killed 15 aid workers has been released, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said.

Asaad al Nsasrah was one of 17 aid workers who were attacked in Tel al Sultan in southern Gaza by Israeli forces on 23 March.

Asaad was one of two first responders who survived – the other 15 were killed.

He was initially thought to be missing, as his body was not among the dead. It was not until 13 April, three weeks after the attack, that Israel confirmed Asaad was alive and in Israeli detention.

The PRCS announced Asaad’s release on X and shared a video of him reuniting with colleagues.

Sky News has seen images showing Asaad, among other released Palestinians, in a grey tracksuit at al Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, where he is undergoing medical examination, according to the PRCS.

Sky News investigated how the attack on the aid workers unfolded – unearthing new evidence earlier this month contradicting Israel’s official account of what happened.

The Israeli military later released the findings of its own investigation into the incident, saying it had dismissed a deputy commander for providing an “inaccurate report”.

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How two hours of terror unfolded

The PRCS claimed the Israeli military’s investigation was “full of lies”.

Asaad’s voice can be heard in a video, initially published by the New York Times, that shows the moments leading up to the attack on the aid workers.

The video was discovered on Rifaat Radwaan’s phone, which was found on his body by rescue workers five days after the attack.

Among those killed were one UN worker, eight paramedics from the PRCS and six first responders from Civil Defence – the official fire and rescue service of Gaza’s Hamas-led government.


The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

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