Main Points
- Catherine Connolly supporters have been accused by Fine Gael of a negative campaign against Heather Humphreys over her religion and family.
- Last night’s debate largely went over ground that has become familiar in recent weeks.
- The tenth President of Ireland will be decided by voters this Friday, with polling stations open from 7am to 10pm.
- The result should be known by Saturday evening.
Rest Reads
- Analysis: Five takeaways from the final TV debate
- Opinion: Miriam Lord: Thanks be to Jaaysus: final debate wraps up a God-awful presidential election
- Q&A: How do I vote tactically in the presidential election?
- Watch - highlights from Tuesday night’s debate
- Have your say: Share your view on the presidential election
Humphreys is a ‘proud republican’, spokesperson says after comment by Fontaines DC member
Heather Humphreys is “proud of who she is and where she comes from” and a “proud republican”, her spokesperson has said after a Fontaines DC member described her as the “candidate of the mind colonised by Britain”.
In a time limited post on social media on Monday, the band’s bassist, Conor Deegan, described Catherine Connolly as the candidate of the “uncolonised Irish mind” while referring to Humphreys as the “candidate of the mind colonised by Britain”.
Mr Deegan claimed Humphreys embodies the “old FF/FG Anglo-Irish mentality: an Ireland reshaped in the image of Britishness, governed through the same modes of control and hierarchy”, Hot Press reported.
Responding to the comments, a spokesperson for Humphreys said she is “proud of who she is and where she comes from.”
“She is a Presbyterian and a proud republican in the tradition of Wolfe Tone and the United Irishmen.
“Heather wants an Ireland that is at peace with itself and united in every sense of the way.
“An Ireland where people are not viewed through the prism of orange or green, catholic or Protestant - the only thing that should matter is that you’re a good neighbour,” they said.
The Government has not opposed an Aontú motion calling for changes in the law to ease the requirements for candidates to the presidency, Marie O’Halloran reports.
Introducing the motion in the Dáil, party leader Peadar Tóibín called for an amendment to legislation to allow candidates who get the support of either 14 Oireachtas members, 110 county and city councillors, three county or city councils, or an incumbent president.
Nominees currently require the support of 20 TDs and/or Senators, or the support of a majority of councillors in four local authorities.
The motion also calls for increased scrutiny of the presidency. The party wants the repeal of Freedom of Information legislation which exempts the president from being subject to the Act.
It also wants a mandatory annual report from Áras an Uachtaráin that details all presidential costs including entertainment, foreign travel and the running of the residence.
The motion calls for a referendum within two years, to grant voting rights in presidential elections to Irish citizens in the North, a move first recommended 12 years ago.
Mr Tóibín said “so many people are angry at the presidential election farce that is unfolding and frustrated at being locked out of the presidential election campaign”.
He claimed changes in the requirements for nomination, would open up the presidential election nomination process to ensure that a larger number of candidates, more representative of the people, would be able to participate in an election campaign.
The Meath West TD said one poll showed Maria Steen, who fell two short of the required 20 Oireachtas nominations, “would have achieved 22 per cent of the actual vote in the election, and yet she has not been allowed on the ballot”.
Independent Ireland leader Michael Collins said his party supports the Aontú motion, adding it is “long past time that all Irish citizens on this island, whether they live in Bantry or Belfast, have the right to vote for the president of Ireland”.
He also backed the easing of restrictions on candidates, saying he did not want a system that is “locked up by the big parties or controlled by old-style political gatekeepers”.
Catherine Connolly has said she opposed a proposal to develop a cancer care facility at University Hospital Galway (UHG) because another hospital, Merlin Park, was more suitable as a location.
Harry McGee writes:
Connolly was responding to newspaper reports that she and her sister, Colette Connolly, who also sat on Galway City Council had opposed the development because of their concerns it would increase traffic in the neighbourhoods around UHG.
Connolly has spoken in the Dáil about the lack of cancer care services in the west of Ireland.
Speaking while on a canvas of Monaghan and Cavan, Connolly said: “I have never opposed a cancer centre in my life.”
Asked in Irish if the report was untrue, she said it referred to a building, and not to cancer care services.
“That was to do with the building and the best place to put it,” she replied in Irish. “There was a much better location in Merlin Park.”
Also asked in Irish would her supporters be disappointed to hear she would not confront Donald Trump on genocide in Gaza, Ms Connolly said she not be one bit reluctant to do that.
“It depends on the context and whether people understand the role of the president,” she said.
“If am meeting Donald Trump and just saying hello. Maybe that would be my only opportunity.
“I do not think that anybody will be disappointed because they understand the type of person I am. They understand the role and its limits,” she said.
Presbyterian Moderator Rev Dr Trevor Gribben has urged members in the Republic to vote in the presidential election on Friday and to pray for both candidates, Patsy McGarry writes.
Heather Humphreys is the first Presbyterian to stand for the office of president in the Republic of Ireland since it was established by the 1937 Constitution.
She spoke during Tuesday night’s debate of how she had received abuse on social media because of her religion.
Born at Drum in Co Monaghan, where she was a member of the local Presbyterian congregation, she recalled on the same programme how on her appointment as a government minister in 2014, the local Presbyterian community presented her with a copy of the Bible, “as Gaeilge.”
Rev Dr Gribben, who has written to the Presbyterian Church’s congregation in the Republic, noted that “this coming Friday members of our congregations from across the Republic of Ireland, along with other citizens entitled to vote, will have the opportunity of choosing the next President of Ireland, as they go to the polls to elect a successor to President Michael D Higgins.”
He said, “while the role is considered to be mainly symbolic and largely ceremonial, following their inauguration those who become Uachtarán na hÉireann will assume the authority that the Constitution grants to them. As the Apostle Paul reminds us in 1 Timothy 2:2, we need to pray for those in political authority.”
Concluding, he said that “regardless of the outcome of Friday’s election, we should pray for whoever becomes the 10th President of Ireland, and for all those in political authority across this island, just as we are called to do.”
According to the 2022 census, there are 22,699 Presbyterians in the Republic, of an estimated 210,000 on the island as a whole.
The cost of running the Office of the President is set to rise by €674,000 to €6.2 million next year amid plans to hire additional staff and increase spending on photography, videography and other services.
The number of people working at Áras an Uachtaráin will rise from 31 to 33 in 2026, resulting in a nine per cent increase in wages, salaries and allowances to just over €2.8 million.
The payroll includes around 18 chefs and caterers who provide meals for the President and their guests. The team includes an executive head chef, an assistant chef, a cook and a catering and services captain.
Read more here.
On the campaign trail in Cavan, Catherine Connolly has been meeting students at Cavan Institute.
Jamie Nolan, a student of psychology and social science, says voting for Connolly would be in his best interests, Jack Horgan-Jones writes.
Dressed as a plague doctor, the 23-year-old says voting for Heather Humphreys would be “like a turkey voting for Christmas”.
Connolly briefly donned a blond wig during the visit.
Asked about her regret over Covid-19 restrictions that saw family members unable to be at the side of dying relatives, and if she pushed back against these restrictions, Humphreys said:
“We did have discussions with the medics at the time, but the advice we were getting was very strong that this couldn’t happen. And I’m just saying that, you know, I feel bad that we didn’t try and find a way around, to find a way so that people could hold the hand of their dying relative.”
She said this was something that has “stuck with me since that time”, describing it as a “genuine regret”.
“I know we’ve all lost loved ones, and I can tell you, it’s not very nice if you can’t say goodbye,” she said.
“On a humane level”, the Fine Gael candidate said “we could have done something more in that regard.”
Asked again if she pushed back on the restrictions, she said:
“I pushed back on that particular issue and I pushed back on the issue of the number of people that can stand outside of the funeral,” adding: “But look, decisions are made, and we have to stand by the decisions.”
Heather Humphreys has said she was “very pleased” with Tuesday night’s debate before urging those who have not made up their mind to “put their trust in me”.
Barry Roche reports:
Speaking in Cork City, the Fine Gael candidate reiterated that she is a “centre ground, pro-European, pro-business, common sense person”.
“I really am asking people to put their trust in me, because I certainly won’t let them down on the international stage, whether it’s representing this country, both diplomatically, culturally or opening doors for Irish businesses,” she said.
Asked if she believed she could win the election, she said: “I sure do.”
She repeated her call for Fianna Fáil supporters to lend her their vote, saying: “For those people that want to vote number one for Jim Gavin, and I understand that, please give me the two.”
Former presidents of IFA endorse Humphreys
Former presidents of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) “do not speak for the IFA”, its president, Francie Gorman, has said after an ad calling on voters to support Heather Humphreys was placed in a newspaper on Tuesday.
Nine former presidents of the IFA, including Donie Cashman, Tom Clinton and John Donnelly, signed an ad placed in the Farming Independent calling on voters to choose a candidate who “knows and will champion the agricultural sector and rural life”.
“That is why we are voting for Heather Humphreys No 1 this Friday, and we are asking you to do the same,” reads the ad published by Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon, Fine Gael’s director of elections.
The ad was also signed by Tom Parlon, John Dillon, John Bryan, Eddie Downey, Joe Healy and Tim Cullinan.
In a statement on Wednesday, IFA president Francie Gorman said the organisation is “strictly non-political”.
He said former IFA presidents are private citizens and can endorse any candidate they see fit.
“However, they do not speak for the IFA and the IFA does not support any candidate in this election or any other election,” he said.
Mr Gorman called on all farm families to use their vote on Friday, saying he does not believe “any purpose is served by spoiling your vote or voting for someone who has withdrawn from the election”.
Speaking at the same event, Cathy Bennett, one of Sinn Féin’s TDs for Cavan-Monaghan, said: “We are not just voting for a president, we are voting for the future of our Republic.
“Let us reject the dirty tricks and fearmongering of the old parties,” she told a crowd of about 150 people, where Tricolours and Palestinian flags are being displayed.
Her constituency colleague Matt Carthy spoke of the diverse coalition behind Connolly, saying it included those who had never been involved in political campaigns before.
Connolly campaign ‘marks a change in Irish politics’, says First Minister
In Monaghan, First Minister Michelle O’Neill has told a rally that Catherine Connolly’s campaign “marks a change in Irish politics, it very much marks a new beginning”.
Jack Horgan-Jones reports:
The Sinn Féin vice-president addressed Connolly, saying: “On this occasion, I cannot vote for you.”
She added that it must be the last presidential election where citizens in Northern Ireland did not have the vote.
Speaking at the event, Connolly said she has been “overjoyed” by the support of young men and women over the campaign, before telling Ms O’Neill: “I’m sorry you can’t vote, hopefully it will be the last time.”
Connolly said many issues have been raised during the campaign, and in a seeming reference to the controversy over her hiring of Ursula Ní Shionnáin, she condemned “the trespass of the privacy of a woman over and over”.
“A real, honest discussion has to take place after this election on that and other issues,” she said.
Connolly added that a new Ireland must value diversity and people coming from abroad, saying anger over issues in the country should never be focused on people entering the country seeking asylum or work.
Ms Carroll MacNeill contended the issues Fine Gael had raised were ones of substance.
“They are issues about making disclosures to the Dáil before you speak on something.
“It is certainly something that I’ve done, it’s something that Jim O’Callaghan has done.
“In respect of defamation, he very clearly stood up and said: I work in defamation in that area, I represent clients on both sides,” she said, adding: “That’s what you do in the Dáil, it’s what you do in councils.”
Connolly supporters conducting negative campaign against Humphreys over her religion and family, Fine Gael Ministers claim
Some supporters of Independent candidate Catherine Connolly have been conducting a negative campaign against Heather Humphreys, particularly in relation to her religion and family, Fine Gael Ministers have claimed.
Harry McGee reports that Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon and Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill both rejected claims from Opposition leaders that Ms Humphreys’s campaign was using smear and Trumpian tactics by attacking Ms Connolly.
Mr Heydon and Ms Carroll MacNeill were speaking during a canvass of morning commuters at St Stephen’s Green Luas stop on Wednesday.
Asked if they regretted the negative tenor of the Fine Gael campaign, both Ministers said they did not accept that portrayal, and that it was the Opposition that was involved in negative campaigning.
“I absolutely regret the fact that there has been so much sectarian content about Heather Humphreys and her family online,” said Mr Heydon.
“I don’t know Catherine Connolly’s family circumstances. I don’t care. It’s not part of it, but I haven’t read anything about it on social media yet.
“I read some very sinister comments about Heather Humphreys, her family, her culture, her tradition. It is wedge politics at its worst.”
He said most of the claims of a smear referred to a video critical of Ms Connolly that Fine Gael issued on Sunday.
“I absolutely stand over that as a video that showed Catherine Connolly’s words, her statements in the Dáil, calling out criminal activity on banks when it was clear and evident, even though it took her seven weeks to actually admit it, that she worked for financial institutions,” he said.
We tuned in hoping for an earthquake. What we got was a seismic snooze, writes Miriam Lord on last night’s debate.
“True, a substantial tremor pulsed through the land at around a quarter to midnight. But it wasn’t caused by anything said in the last TV ‘debate’ of this God-awful presidential election.
“It was just the reverberation from a nation sighing a heartfelt ‘thanks be to Jaaysus’ when the thing was finally over.”
Read her piece here.
Catherine Connolly is set to unveil a presidential initiative in the home county of her rival Heather Humphreys on Wednesday morning.
The initiative, Future Voices – Guthanna an Todhchaí, will aim to “listen to young people from all communities” about the future they wish to create and the “kind of Ireland they want to live in”.
It will include regional youth assemblies and cross-Border exchanges, with Connolly saying it will ensure young voices are “heard and respected – North and South, urban and rural, at home and abroad”.
Connolly is due to announce the initiative at about 11am at the Diamond, Monaghan, with Sinn Féin vice-president and First Minister Michelle O’Neill and local Sinn Féin TD Matt Carthy.
With two days to go until voters head to the polls, Heather Humphreys is visiting counties Cork and Clare on Wednesday.
She will first travel to Cork City, before moving on to Banteer and Mitchelstown in Co Cork and Ennis in Co Clare.
Catherine Connolly, meanwhile, is scheduled to visit Monaghan, Cavan, Athlone and Mullingar.
Good morning, the last debate of the presidential election saw Independent candidate Catherine Connolly stand over her views on the United States and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
However, Connolly said she understood that her role as president would be different from her role as politician.
Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys, meanwhile, apologised for her failure to support the family of Shane O’Farrell, a young man who died in her constituency after being struck by a motorist who should not have been on the road.
Humphreys sought to take on her opponent on a number of issues, but failed to land any knockout blows, Pat Leahy and Ellen Coyne write.
Read more on the final debate here.
