Three contenders will officially fight it out to become the next President Of Ireland

The deadline has passed for presidential nominations.

There’ll now officially be three names on next month’s ballot – Fianna Fáil’s Jim Gavin, Fine Gael’s Heather Humphrey’s and Independent candidate Catherine Connolly.

It comes as Maria Steen failed to obtain the required 20 TDs and Senators to enter the race, she obtained the backing of just 18.

Speaking after this afternoon’s deadline, Ms Steen claims there’s a large section of the population who feel unrepresented in the presidential election campaign.