Presidential candidates Catherine Connolly and Heather Humphreys clashed on the EU, the triple lock and election campaign “smears” on Sunday as the race for the presidency entered its last full week.
In a more confrontational encounter than previous debates, the candidates expressed opposing viewpoints on RTÉ radio’s This Week, with Ms Connolly accusing Fine Gael of “the politics of fear … the politics of smear”.
Later, speaking to journalists outside RTÉ studios, Ms Connolly said the “smears” directed at her were “shocking”. She added: “Today, there was a lot of allegations against me without any basis whatsoever, so I think they’re going down the road of throwing as much as they can.”
During the debate, Ms Humphreys said her rival for the Áras had never voted for the EU, something Ms Connolly denied.
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Asked afterwards how she had voted in EU treaty referendums, Ms Connolly said she “probably” had voted for them, but could not say offhand how she had voted in a number of referendums on EU treaties.
“I’d have to think back,” she said.
She said she had taken an active role in the campaign against the Lisbon Treaty. She did this because of the “military industrial complex and the direction we were going”, as well as the “blatant neoliberal ideology that sets out the price of everything and the value of nothing”.
“But I have no recollection of canvassing against any other treaty,” she said.
Pressed on how she had voted, Ms Connolly said: “I’d say I voted for them.”
She could not recall which treaties she voted in favour of, saying: “I’m answering the question as best I can . . . I can’t remember ever canvassing against a treaty, ever, so I imagine I voted for them.”
However, material circulated by Fine Gael subsequently showed Ms Connolly spoke out against the Lisbon Treaty, the Nice Treaty and the Fiscal Compact Treaty.
Asked about past EU treaties at a trade union event on Sunday night, Ms Connolly said she regretted “not being active” in other campaigns against EU treaties.
She insisted she was “a committed European”, but opposed aspects of EU policies. “We have to allow questions to be put and debated,” she said.
Ms Connolly’s campaign did not respond to questions from The Irish Times about how she voted in EU referendums since the 1980s.
In Sunday’s debate, which was moderated by presenter David McCullagh, both candidates promised to speak up for people if elected president.
Ms Connolly said she would be a president who is “unafraid to speak out”, though she acknowledged “policies are decided by government, I’ve no problem with that . . . the people decide in an election who makes the decisions and I have no problem with that”.
But she added that people want a president who gives them a sense of hope and “reflects their values.”
Ms Humphreys defended her record of assisting Lucia O’Farrell, whose son Shane was killed by a hit-and-run driver while out on bail. The O’Farrell family received a State apology earlier this year.
“I’m sorry if Lucia thinks I didn’t do enough,” she said.
Ms Humphreys said she had “never objected to a housing development”, while some TDs had.
Asked by journalists after the debate if she had ever objected to housing, Ms Connolly said she had “never objected to housing”.
However, she added: “I might have put in submissions that expressed my concerns, sharing the concerns of residents. That’s over my lifetime in politics . . . I certainly shared the concerns of residents in Galway in relation to where certain student accommodation was put.”
