The candidates in the presidential election will on Thursday embark on a frantic final round of campaigning in advance of polling day.
Left-wing Independent Catherine Connolly got a boost on Wednesday evening with another poll suggesting she has a considerable lead over Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys and is on course to win the election.
Earlier, Ms Humphreys insisted she believes she could win the election, while also repeating a call for Fianna Fáil supporters to lend her their votes as she described herself as a “centre-ground, pro-European, pro-business, commonsense person”.
Elsewhere, Ms Connolly described an online deepfake AI video purporting to announce the Independent TD’s withdrawal from the election as “entirely false and malicious” and a “disgraceful attempt to mislead voters and undermine our democracy”.
RM Block
Last night’s Business Post/Red C poll had Ms Connolly on 44 per cent with Ms Humphreys trailing on 25 per cent. Jim Gavin of Fianna Fáil, who has stopped his campaign but remains on the ballot paper, was on 10 per cent, with 21 per cent undecided.
The results come after last week’s Irish Times/Ipsos B&A poll had Ms Connolly on 38 per cent, almost double the support of Ms Humphreys, on 20 per cent.
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Earlier on Wednesday Fine Gael Ministers claimed some supporters of Ms Connolly had been conducting a negative campaign against Ms Humphreys in relation to her Presbyterian religion and family.
A spokesperson for Ms Humphreys later said she was “proud of who she is and where she comes from” and a “proud republican”.
This statement came in after Conor Deegan, a member of the band Fontaines DC, described Ms Humphreys as the “candidate of the mind colonised by Britain” in an online post. He described Ms Connolly as the candidate of the “uncolonised Irish mind”.
Ms Connolly attended a rally in Monaghan alongside Sinn Féin deputy leader and Northern First Minister Michelle O’Neill.
Speaking at the same event, Sinn Féin TD 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” as she accused the “old parties” of “fearmongering”.
Meanwhile, there remains no clarity on exactly who organised Ms Connolly’s controversial 2018 trip to Syria with then-fellow TDs Clare Daly, Mick Wallace and Maureen O’Sullivan.
Ms Connolly has been asked about this on a number of occasions for more than a week.
On Tuesday night’s debate on RTÉ Ms Connolly said it was “a private citizen in Dublin who had previously organised many trips to the Occupied Territories”.
On Wednesday, a Connolly Campaign spokeswoman said: “The person wants to protect their privacy” when asked about the organiser’s identity.
