Main Points
- Connolly has described the deepfake AI video purporting to announce her withdrawal from the election as “entirely false and malicious”.
- The 10th 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.
Best 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
New opinion polling shows Connolly at 44 per cent, Humphreys at 25 per cent
Opinion polling by the Business Post shows Independent Catherine Connolly maintaining a strong lead against rival Heather Humphreys, as election day draws near.
The Business Post/Red C opinion poll of the presidential election campaign released tonight at 8pm shows Ms Connolly in front at 44 per cent - a commanding 19 point lead on Fine Gael candidate Humphreys, who lags behind at 25 per cent.
Fianna Fáil candidate Jim Gavin comes in at 10 per cent. Although he has withdrawn from campaigning over a rental controversy, Mr Gavin will still appear on ballot papers on Friday.
Undecided voters account for 21 per cent.
The margin of error is +/- 3 per cent.
The poll was conducted between October 16th and 21st with Red C interviewing a random sample of 1,012 adults online.
Last week’s Irish Times/Ipsos B&A poll had Ms Connolly on 38 per cent, almost double the support of Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys, on 20 per cent.
Mr Gavin was on 5 per cent.
Undecideds stood at 18 per cent; 12 per cent of respondents said they will not vote; and 6 per cent said they would spoil their vote.
‘An absolute privilege’: Catherine Connolly says she doesn’t take her election for granted
Catherine Connolly has said she does not take her election as president for granted, despite commanding polling lead.
“I am absolutely not taking it for granted, absolutely not, it will be an absolute privilege if the people of Ireland elected me when they cast their vote on Friday.”
Ms Connolly said she hopes the support for her campaign sends “a very positive message” to the Government, Jack Horgan-Jones reports.
“I hope it sends a very positive message that they should reflect on the way they have approached this campaign number one, and that should be a matter for discussion after the election.”
“There’s a complete gap between what the Government are seeing and what people are expressing on the ground.”
“People are crying out for honesty, integrity, and for a different vision for the country, and for a solution to our problems and to be a voice for peace in the world.”
Later, in Longford, Ms Connolly spoke with a member of the Care Champions group – which advocates for those in nursing homes and care services – for her support.
Majella Beatty told The Irish Times: “I asked Catherine should she become president, would she give our families a voice, would she invite us to the Aras, would she hear us and have a day of remembrance where families are at the centre.”
“She said absolutely, and also committed to a wider discussion.”
Ms Connolly said in Tuesday’s RTÉ debate that the Government’s handling – and her support for it – of the Covid lockdowns was a source of regret for her.
Asked to expand on this on Wednesday, Ms Connolly said “I joined in and voted for all the restrictions brought in and if you look at the speech I gave, I did it reluctantly.”
“I think we should have had much earlier reflection on that.”
“We all joined in with the first vote and supported the Government but it had terrible consequences in terms of nursing homes.”
During the pandemic, Ms Connolly put her name to a motion urging the government to adopt a “zero Covid” strategy, which envisaged a maximum suppression approach to the virus and was seen in Australia and elsewhere, but never in Ireland. She also chaired a meeting in Galway of the We Can Be Zero campaign.
On the campaign trail in Monaghan town, Catherine Connolly was greeted from the crowds by Lucia O’Farrell, whose 23-year-old son Shane was killed by a drunk driver in 2011, Jack Horgan-Jones reports.
Ms O’Farrell has been critical of the response by Ms Connolly’s rival in the presidential race, Heather Humphreys, who was her local TD at the time.
A spokeswoman for Ms Connolly’s campaign said that they met, had a good exchange and embraced at the end of it, with Ms O’Farrell thanking the Galway West TD for her work.
TDs accept proposal calling for change to presidential election law
TDs have accepted a proposal calling for presidential candidates to be able to be nominated via petition.
The proposal was made by People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy, who called for presidential election law to be changed to allow candidates be nominated through a petition signed by at least 35,000 people who are eligible to vote for the head of State.
The proposal amends the Aontú private member’s motion which calls for the requirements to be a candidate to be eased, Marie O’Halloran writes.
The Government is not opposing the motion but is under no obligation to act on it.
The motion reduces the number of Oireachtas members necessary to nominate from 20 to 14.
It also calls for 110 county and city councillors, three county or city councils, or an incumbent president to be sufficient for nomination. Nominees currently require the support of a majority of councillors in four local authorities.
Mr Murphy hit out at calls for people to spoil their vote on Friday, which he said “are pitched as an anti-establishment campaign”.
He added: “The people who are driving this spoiled vote campaign are part of the elite. They are not anti-establishment at all.
“They are a different, more socially conservative part of the elite from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.”
Independent TD Gillian Toole told the Dáil “I wish the best of luck to both candidates on Friday.
“More importantly, I wish them a good recovery next week when the adrenaline and cortisol levels start to subside. I hope they avoid any illness.”
Humphreys says she attended event awarding garda who had planted hoax bombs “in good faith”
Heather Humphreys said that she attended an event where a garda found to have been involved in serious crime and accused of domestic violence was awarded a medal of bravery “in good faith.”
Ms Humphreys said that she had no role in deciding who the bravery medal was awarded to, Ellen Coyne reports.
The Fine Gael candidate for the presidential election attended a ceremony in 2021 where former Donegal detective Noel McMahon was awarded the prestigious Scott medal for valour.
Ms Humphreys, who was Minister for Justice at the time, presented McMahon and colleagues with the bravery medals and commended them for being “truly heroic.”
McMahon was one of a number of gardaí who received the award for their role in the 1983 rescue of kidnapped businessman Don Tidey.
In the Dáil this week, Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger said that McMahon had planted hoax bombs and ammunition across the northwest of Ireland in the 1990s “to make himself look good for catching the IRA”.
She also questioned how seriously An Garda Síochána takes gender-based violence “when somebody who had to apologise to his wife for the abuse she suffered is brought back for such an award”.
The issue was first reported on The Ditch news website on Monday.
Speaking in an interview on The Last Word on Today FM on Wednesday, Ms Humphreys said that the Scott medal is an annual ceremony “that every Minister for Justice attends.”
“It’s decided by An Garda Síochána who receives the medals. The job of the Minister for Justice, whoever it is on the day, is a ceremonial role where you’re asked to hand out the medals,” Ms Humphreys said.
“The minister of the day has absolutely no input whatsoever in deciding who receives those medals.”
She said: “I attended the event in good faith, I was there as the minister. I stood up along with the Garda Commissioner and I gave out the awards that were called out on the day, that were decided by an independent panel.”
Any potential presidential candidate should be required “to do the hard yards” if they want to get on the ballot paper, Labour’s Ciarán Ahern has told the Dáil.
Marie O’Halloran reports:
Mr Ahern was “deeply uncomfortable with the idea that someone should be entitled to get on the ballot paper on the basis of their celebrity, online following or personal wealth”.
This “would allow them to put a large amount of money behind a campaign”, the Dublin South-West TD said.
During a debate on an Aontú motion to ease the requirements for nomination, Mr Ahern said “we need to remember that we are talking about the highest office in the land. From my perspective, it should not be easy to get on the ballot paper.”
He added: “Whatever people’s thoughts are on either candidate left in the presidential race, there can be little doubt that both of them have dedicated years of their lives to public service.”
And he said that “given the ever-increasing number of Members in this House, in terms of the percentage of Members’ nominations required, it has actually become easier to get on the ballot paper”.
He added: “The Office of the President deserves that level of respect. It is not something we should treat lightly.”
Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly criticised the call for easing the requirements to be a presidential candidate.
He said it was “no way to legislate to try and change the rules to reduce the thresholds because the rules did not help us get our nominee on to the ballot paper”.
The Kildare North TD said the “most significant electoral reform” they should be talking about is a move to reduce the voting age to 16. He had introduced a Bill to allow a referendum on the issue and pointed out that “in the UK, we will see young people aged 16 and upwards given the opportunity to vote in their next general election”.
Aoife Ní Choiligh, who met Catherine Connolly on the canvas in Longford, asked the presidential candidate to sign her jacket, Jack Horgan-Jones writes.
Ms Connolly’s signature joined those of Curtisy and Death to Ricky, who Ms Ní Choiligh said were up and coming Irish rappers who had signed her jacket recently.
Ms Ní Choiligh said of Ms Connolly: “I like how fair she is not afraid to be herself and representative of strong women.”
Independent Ireland TD expresses concern over possibility of Fianna Fáil election reimbursal
An Independent Ireland TD has expressed concern over the possibility of a refund for Fianna Fáil of its election expenses if Jim Gavin receives 12.5 per cent of the vote on Friday.
Marie O’Halloran reports:
Mr Gavin is not campaigning in the election following controversy over his time as a landlord, but his name remains on the ballot.
Independent Ireland TD Richard O’Donoghue expressed concern in the Dáil that “if the candidate who has withdrawn gets 12.5 per cent of the vote, Fianna Fáil will get reimbursed for the money it has spent to date and the taxpayers of this country will end up having to pay for that”.
He said the public wanted to know “whether during a cost-of-living crisis, Fianna Fáil will get refunded for putting up a ghost candidate”.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin pointed out that the Limerick County TD left Fianna Fáil a long time ago and is now an Independent. “Your concern for our members is touching but I respectfully suggest that we will deal with that within our party.
“The law is the law in respect of deposits and return. The people will decide.”
In the latest Irish Times/Ipsos/B&A poll had Mr Gavin on 5 per cent, under half the necessary for a refund of up to a maximum of €200,000. Fianna Fáil is understood to have spent about €300,000 on the campaign to date.
Sinn Féin TD says voting franchise for future elections must extend to Irish citizens in the North and abroad
Speaking in the Dáil on presidential election voting rights, Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould said this must be the last election blocking Irish citizens in the North and across the world from voting.
Marie O’Halloran reports:
“We have seven years to get this done. We can work together,” the Cork North-Central TD said.
“I have friends in America, Canada, Australia, England who are as Irish as me. I have friends in the six counties who are even more Irish.
“I only have cúpla focal as Gaeilge. I have friends in the North who are fluent Irish speakers and their family are fluent Irish speakers. They feel it more and they are denied that right.”
His party colleague Rose Conway-Walsh said that even the current franchise is restricted.
“Many students will not be able to make it home in time to vote,” the Mayo TD said.
“There are workers living too far away from their designated polling booths and there are people who will be on holiday or working abroad on polling day. Postal voting or proxy voting must be extended to make it possible for those citizens to vote.”
Sinn Féin Louth TD Ruairí Ó Murchú said the Electoral Commission should look at the means by which people get on the presidential ballot. “We probably need to look at how people get on to ballots in general.
“In Louth, we had almost 25 candidates at one stage. That make voting difficult for people. I accept that it cannot be made too easy but we need to facilitate as many people as possible.
“We have the means and time to do so. We can look at best practice across the world.”
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Michael D Higgins hosted the final afternoon tea reception of his presidency at Áras an Uachtaráin today.
Mr Higgins and his wife Sabina welcomed around 100 members of the public, groups and organisations from around the country to the Áras on Wednesday.
The President has welcomed around 15,000 to 20,000 members of the public at Áras an Uachtaráin annually over his two terms in office, including around 17,000 people last year.
Among those in attendance at the Áras tea party were a group of scientists from University of Galway who discovered a new planet using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in the Atacama Desert in Chile, earlier this year.
The discovery was made in collaboration with astronomers in Leiden University and the University of Arizona.
Members from the Inniskillings Museum in Enniskillen and representatives of Siptu trade union were also there, as were members from Crann – a charity promoting the sustainable use and conservation of trees and forests in Ireland – and members of Animal Help Net Kerry.
Connolly condemns ‘disgraceful’ AI video
Catherine Connolly has described the deepfake AI video purporting to announce her withdrawal from the election as “entirely false and malicious”.
Connolly said she is “absolutely still a candidate”, saying the video that appeared on social media on Tuesday night is a “disgraceful attempt to mislead voters and undermine our democracy”.
“I will not be distracted. I will continue my campaign in every county, meeting people and making the case for a hopeful, inclusive presidency,” she said in a statement on Wednesday.
Connolly said disinformation has “no place in Irish public life” and urged members of the public to verify content.
The Connolly campaign said it reported the video to the social media platforms where it appeared, and lodged a formal complaint with the Electoral Commission.
The Electoral Commission said it became aware of the video on Tuesday evening and used pre-agreed communications channels with platforms to escalate the issue “immediately” with a request that they be urgently reviewed.
“I understand that the relevant accounts have since been suspended,” a spokesman said.
The Connolly campaign said it is also calling on social media platforms to act swiftly and responsibly to remove fake election content “designed to deceive the public”.
It said it is also urging them to apply clear labels to AI-generated media, and to fully co-operate with the relevant authorities by preserving metadata and assisting investigations “to identify those responsible for producing and distributing the false material”.
A deepfake AI video purporting to show Catherine Connolly withdrawing from the presidential election was viewed almost 30,000 times before Facebook removed it.
The video, designed to look like an RTÉ news bulletin, was posted to an account called RTÉ News AI.
It was live for almost 12 hours and had been shared nearly 200 times before it was removed. It was one of several videos related to the presidential election on the account in question.
Read more here.
Minister for Local Government James Browne has signalled that the presidential candidate selection process is an issue in the first instance for the Electoral Commission, Marie O’Halloran reports.
He was speaking after Aontú’s motion seeking presidential reforms was brought forward.
The Commission is “empowered to advise and make recommendations to the Minister and the Government in relation to any proposals for legislative change or any other policy matters concerning electoral and legislative proposals”.
Mr Browne acknowledged that 12 years ago, the Convention on the Constitution recommended that citizens resident outside the State should have the right to vote in presidential elections.
Mr Browne pointed out that 73 per cent those involved voted in favour of extending the right to vote in presidential elections to citizens in Northern Ireland.
In a separate vote 78 per cent supported the right for Irish citizens globally to vote in presidential elections.
In 2017, the government accepted in principle that citizens outside the State should have a vote and in 2019 a Bill was initiated in the Dáil to facilitate a holding of a referendum, but the legislation lapsed in the 2020 general election and the Covid-19 pandemic further delayed the issue.
He said the Government is now “reflecting” on private member’s legislation introduced in June “on this important issue”.
The Minister said there would be no advantage in amending Freedom of Information legislation to include the President.
He said the financial allocation for the presidency is publicly available during the Estimates for the budget and is audited by the Comptroller & Auditor General.
Day-to-day management is a matter for the Office of Public Works (OPW) which is also subject to the same procedures as Government departments.
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.
