Bob Geldof has said he regrets not standing in this month’s Presidential Election and that he thinks he would have been “good at the job”. 

The musician was speaking ahead of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Boomtown Rats, the Dublin band that catapulted him to international fame. 

Earlier this year, Geldof called up Taoiseach Micheál Martin to discuss whether he should throw his hat into the ring for the Fianna Fáil nomination. 

When Mr Martin told him the party would not support his candidacy, Geldof decided not to seek a nomination from another party or four county councils. 

When asked if he regretted not doing so on Newstalk Breakfast, Geldof replied, “Yeah, I think so,” adding that it was a “timing thing”. 

 “If it was last year or next year, I’d have gone for it if I’d been nominated by one of the parties,” he said. 

“But they didn’t know I wanted to try something different, stimulating, something that would be of value. 

“I only called the Taoiseach late in the day - he’d already made his decision. 

“I wouldn’t have had time to do the County Council thing.” 

Áras an Uachtárain. Picture by: Alamy.com. 

Unlike in the last two contested Presidential Elections, no candidate is on the ballot paper having received a nomination from four County Councils. 

Reflecting on this, Geldof added that given how many people are “very ambivalent” about him, he would have been unlikely to get on the ballot paper this way. 

“But I would have liked the scrap,” he said. 

“I would have liked to engage with that and the election process itself.” 

Catherine Connolly and Heather Humphreys. 

Geldof continued that both candidates are “capable and nice people”, he would still have liked to have been Ireland’s Head of State. 

“I think I could have done the job,” he said. 

“I think I would have been good at the job.” 

The Boomtown Rats

Today, a commemorative plaque at TU Dublin will be unveiled to mark the first gig of the Boomtown Rats, which was held on Bolton Street on Halloween night, 1975. 

While some think the gig took place on Kevin Street, the Boomtown Rats think otherwise. 

“Four of them went there,” Geldof said. 

“I had no idea where either of them was - because I was never in higher education… I didn’t care where it was, I just pitched up and did my thing. 

“But they all insist it was Bolton Street where we’ll be.” 

Bob Geldof in 1984. Picture by: Alamy.com. 

He added that he continues to be “amazed by” people’s continued love for the band. 

“We’re in the middle of a UK tour, sold out,” he said. 

“It’s odd to me that I’ve made my life and my living out of this crowd… who pitched up in Dublin one day. 

“Time telescopes itself and I’m still amazed that the actual 50th [anniversary] gig is Halloween night and it’ll be at the Hammersmith Odeon.”

Main image: Bob Geldof. Picture by: Jens Kalaene/dpa-Zentralbild/ZB.