Bob Geldof has spoken about the possibility of running for the Irish presidency, saying it was "flattering to be asked" but adding, "I honestly think I'd have been beaten".
In recent weeks, The Boomtown Rats frontman was linked with a potential run to become Ireland's president.
Appearing on Brendan O'Connor's show on RTÉ Radio 1 on Saturday morning, the Irish music star was asked by the presenter if he was thinking of becoming the President of Ireland.
"No, I was asked, flatteringly," he said. "Somebody said to me and I said, '50 years of the rats, 40 years of Band Aid, I really would like to do something new, interesting and useful.'
"So then they said, 'Why don't you run for it?'
"And I thought, and there's three things coming down the track that Ireland will need to negotiate, very, very dangerous for Ireland, unless it's navigated properly. And the President will have a really essential role in helping the country to do so.
"So I thought, yeah, but the truth is that if you don't get a party nomination, it's a marathon to get there."
When O'Connor asked if he would have run if he was chosen as a Fianna Fáil candidate, Geldof replied: "Probably. I'd have done well Brendan, you know.
"I couldn't do the county council hurdle race. I really couldn't do it, I just don't at the time."
"You get deluded," he continued. "It's flattering to be asked and then you think, do I really want that?
"Here's the thing - I think the Irish are very ambivalent about me I think the county councils would have been a nightmare for me.
"I'd have enjoyed the scrap, I'd have enjoyed the debates. I honestly think I'd have been beaten. But I'd have gone into it, but there's a great ambivalence about me.
"Of course I'd be willing - what an honor - but I had an image, 18 months in and the novelty's worn off and I've asked the government can I go back to see my kids in England and the grandkids.
"I'm staring out the window, a big window in a big house, and it's Wednesday afternoon, and it's cold and it's damp and a bit foggy and the dark is coming in. And I'm looking out at the Phoenix Park and I'm thinking, 'Is this really what I wanted to do in the last lap of my life?'"
He added: "The honour is beyond immense to represent a country and a people. And I could do it."
