Presidential candidates Catherine Connolly and Heather Humphreys and their senior political supporters traded accusations on Thursday in heated clashes over comments by Ms Connolly about employing a person with a conviction for sexual offences.
In a radio interview on Wednesday, Ms Connolly was asked if she would employ a person who had served a sentence for a sexual conviction and replied she would have to think about it.
On Thursday, following the reaction to her comments, she clarified her position by saying “absolutely not” and pointed to such a person being registered as a sex offender. The question had been asked in the context of her having employed a person who had been convicted of possessing firearms and explosives.
In the third live debate between presidential candidates on RTÉ Radio’s Drivetime, Fine Gael candidate Ms Humphreys criticised her Independent rival for taking a day to clarify her comments.
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“If any woman in this country was asked if they would hire a convicted rapist in Áras an Uachtaráin, I don’t think it should take 24 hours to answer,” she said.
Ms Connolly responded that she was speaking about a specific case that had arisen and that she had clarified.
She said Ms Humphreys’s response was disingenuous.
“I’m giving you an unambiguous answer [now],” she said.
With both camps adopting a more confrontational and provocative approach as the campaign enters its last fortnight, Fine Gael Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill criticised the leaders of Opposition parties for supporting Ms Connolly in the wake of making the comments on Newstalk.
In a social media post addressing Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, Labour’s Ivana Bacik and Holly Cairns of the Social Democrats, Ms Carroll MacNeill asked how they could justify their continued support “for a candidate who said she would need to reflect on whether she would hire a convicted rapist to work in Áras an Uachtaráin”.
All three leaders angrily rejected the criticism, characterising it as a smear.
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“To see [Ms Carroll MacNeill] being drawn into issuing this statement with its personalised and entirely spurious attack upon me and upon other party leaders shows that Fine Gael are now resorting to increasingly desperate smear tactics,” said Ms Bacik.
In the live debate, Ms Humphreys denied there was a smear campaign. She also argued that the State needs a president who “hasn’t fallen out or insulted our allies”.
It was a reference to Ms Connolly’s comments drawing parallels between the build-up of Germany’s military arsenal and the 1930s, when the Third Reich was in power in Germany.
Ms Connolly responded by saying the allegation was “scurrilous” and that normalisation of genocide is absolutely unacceptable to her and the vast majority of people in the Republic.
“Countries, were pointed out by me, that were very supportive of Israel, and America’s role in it.”
Ms Connolly pressed the Fine Gael candidate on her position regarding the Occupied Territories Bill and whether or not she would support the inclusion of services, as well as goods, in the Bill.
Ms Humphreys did not respond to the specific question, saying she had retired from the Dáil in November and would have to review the legislation to see what it contained.
Asked about the Gaza peace plan, Ms Connolly said the genocide has to stop. She welcomed any plan to end it, including the Trump peace plan.
Asked if US president Donald Trump should be supported for the Nobel Peace Prize, she replied: “It would not be a question of me supporting Trump.”
Another issue that arose was over a claim that Ms Connolly had represented banks in repossession cases while working as a barrister. The Galway West TD has said that as a barrister, she was professionally obliged not to refuse any brief that was offered. The Bar Council, which represents the profession, issued a statement on Thursday, emphasising that this was indeed the case.
