It may be a week out from voting in the presidential election but it isn’t setting the world alight in Cork’s English Market.
In the popular indoor market, every second person either has no interest or no opinion in candidates Independent Catherine Connolly or Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys.
“I’ve had a preference for Catherine Connolly from the get-go,” says Paul Smith, who is originally from Kildare but who has been living in Cork for 16 years.
“First, she speaks Irish, but she’s always been on the radar as a person who’s been socially minded – Michael D was the same – I think she would be a good continuation of his presidency,” says Smith, a horticulture school employee who usually leans left in his voting.
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Currently between jobs and new to Cork, Westmeath native Jack Vaughan tends to vote left too. He has decided to vote for Connolly.
He concedes it’s “a bit mad” that there are only two candidates and he would prefer if there was a broader representation of runners.
“I think Catherine Connolly talks a lot more sense; she just comes across a lot more professional – I don’t think Heather Humphreys is as good a speaker – she’s all ‘um, um, um’. Plus, I don’t think someone with her Orange Order links, given what it stands for in the North, should be in the Áras.”
Nora Quinn from Kinsale, a floating voter, says she is distinctly unimpressed with Connolly’s unwillingness to answer directly questions about signing a person convicted of firearms offences into Dáil Éireann daily for six months.
“I don’t think there is much of a choice, but I will be voting for Heather because I don’t think she will rock the boat and will represent us well,” she says.
Another reason she is voting for Humphreys: Quinn is involved with Kinsale Tidy Towns and Humphreys has been supportive of Tidy Towns competition.
“I’m sure the other lady is very good, but she doesn’t answer any question directly.”
Aubrey Creed from Cork usually votes for Independents or the Social Democrats but “never for any of the Fs”.
“I’m voting for Catherine Connolly; she gives me the feeling she is going to be like Michael D, a good representative of the country,” she says.
John O’Connell, a special needs assistant from Cork city and another left-leaning voter who has never voted for Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael, is unimpressed with the choice and is not enamoured of Connolly. He won’t vote for either candidate.
“I never vote for Fine Gael and I don’t know Catherine Connolly, but I don’t like what she says about a lot of things – about Ukraine, about France, about Germany," he says.
Helen O’Callaghan, who runs the Meat Centre in the market, says she will spoil her vote in protest as she doesn’t believe there is a great choice. Neither candidate could hold a candle to Michael D Higgins, she says.
“I’m Fianna Fáil, and I’ve voted all my life but I’m going to spoil my vote – they’re just not good enough – all they are doing is b**ching at each other every night on television," she says.
“And a lot of people coming up to the counter are spoiling their votes too because they are not happy with the choice.”
Here, in the heart of Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s Cork South Central constituency, one constituent is surprised at his choice of Jim Gavin, whose campaign imploded over an issue with a former tenant dating back 16 years.
John O’Connell says Martin picked him because of his record as Dublin GAA football manager but didn’t think of how he would be in a race for the Áras.
“I’m sure he was grand as Dublin football manager, but he never said much as Dublin football manager so why would he say much as president?” he says.
