The presidential election continues to dominate Irish politics and the airwaves with ten days until voters cast their ballots.
Left-wing Independent candidate Catherine Connolly did two interviews on Monday, one with RTÉ Radio and the other with Virgin Media last night.
Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys did a televised interview with RTÉ, and the pair are set to clash this morning in a head-to-head debate on Newstalk radio.
Meanwhile, continuing discomfort among some in the centre-left parties backing Ms Connolly is the focus of our off-lead story by Harry McGee and Jack Horgan-Jones.
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Former Labour leader Alan Kelly, who revealed weeks ago that he will not personally be supporting Ms Connolly, said he will “reluctantly” vote for Ms Humphreys, indicating his concern about the candidate his party has thrown its weight behind has “doubled” since the campaign began.
Ms Connolly responded to his comments by saying the Labour Party is led by Ivana Bacik and the party has played a “blinder” on her behalf during the campaign.
Meanwhile, former Green Party TD Brian Leddin announced on Monday he was leaving the party, citing its decision to back Ms Connolly’s campaign and also an array of concerns about its direction.
In a piece published on The Irish Times website Mr Leddin said the Greens were no longer “a party I would join, and so it no longer makes sense to remain a member”.
He also criticised Ms Connolly on several fronts, including her trip to Syria, her employment in Leinster House of a person with a firearms conviction and her positions on Europe. He says the party’s support for her campaign “deepened my concerns about its current direction”.
Both candidates faced thorny questions during their media interviews on Monday as McGee reports here.
Ms Connolly confirmed she voted against European Union (EU) treaties in both Nice referendums and in both Lisbon referendums.
She clarified her position during an interview on RTÉ’s News at One after telling reporters on Sunday that she had “probably” voted for some of the referendums on EU treaties. She said: “I would have to think back.”
Later during an interview with Katie Hannon on RTÉ, Heather Humphreys was asked about the death of Shane O’Farrell who was 23 when he was knocked off his bike in a hit-and-run incident in Co Monaghan in 2011.
The driver of the car had previous convictions and was out on bail at the time. Lucia O’Farrell, Shane’s mother, has said she was “terribly disappointed” that Heather Humphreys did not support the family’s campaign for a public inquiry into failings in the criminal justice system.
She told The Irish Times the Fine Gael presidential candidate was “not capable of being the president for the people of Ireland, when she can’t represent her own people in Monaghan”.
Ms Humphreys said she was “sorry” if the family felt that she had not done enough to support their case.
It was put to her that she never asked a parliamentary question about Mr O’Farrell, nor took part in any Dáil debate, or vigil, nor did she support a vote for a public inquiry in 2018, or in 2024.
Ms Humphreys replied that as a minister she was not in a position to ask parliamentary questions, nor was she in a position when minister for justice to interfere in a judge-led independent process.
During her interview with Virgin Media’s Colette Fitzpatrick on Monday night Ms Connolly was asked about her use of a taxpayer-funded allowance to pay for a trip she took to war-torn Syria in 2018 with then fellow TDs Clare Daly, Mick Wallace and Maureen O’Sullivan.
Last week The Irish Times revealed that Ms Connolly used the Parliamentary Activities Allowance for spending almost €3,700 on the trip.
She has since said she never gave the impression that she used her personal funds to pay for a trip despite saying at her campaign launch last July: “I funded that trip.”
Ms Fitzpatrick put it to Ms Connolly it was not true to say she funded the trip and the Independent candidate said: “no, I funded [the trip]”.
Put to her again that the taxpayer funded the trip and it was not paid for from her private cash, Ms Connolly replied: “The taxpayer funds my salary. The taxpayer funds the three allowances that I get. One for travel, one for an office which I back up and then this particular one which allows for research on policy, it allows for entertainment actually which I rarely use and it allows under four different categories.”
Best reads
Dublin City University academic Kevin Rafter has ranked all nine of the presidents of Ireland so far and how each office holder from Hyde to Higgins has brought a particular emphasis.
On the opinion pages, Fintan O’Toole says the election has become about the nature of the presidency itself and says Heather Humphreys is a candidate who is harmless and Catherine Connolly is one with the potential to do harm, but also to do good.
On other presidential matters we ask: how much did Jim Gavin’s failed presidential bid cost Fianna Fáil?
In our lead, Mark Weiss in Jerusalem reports that Hamas freed the last living Israeli hostages from Gaza on Monday and Israel sent home busloads of Palestinian detainees, as US president Donald Trump visited the region to push his ceasefire deal.
Elsewhere on the front page, Johnny Waterson has a story about how Irish swimmer Shane Ryan has committed to competing in the Enhanced Games, a controversial new competition that permits athletes to take banned performance-enhancing drugs.
Playbook
The presidential election candidates, Independent TD Catherine Connolly and Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys, will be back on the campaign trail today.
The pair will take part in the latest broadcast debate on The Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk radio from 9am.
The Cabinet meets this morning. Our tee-up story, including how Ministers will be told Ireland is set to commit to tens of millions in aid for Gaza, is here.
Dáil proceedings kick off with Leaders’ Questions at 2pm.
Government Business in the afternoon is a debate on the proposed Housing Finance Agency (Amendment) Bill 2025 starting at 3.50pm.
Sinn Féin have a Private Members’ motion on the cost of disability that will be debated from 7.24pm.
Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon is due to take parliamentary questions from 9.24pm.
TDs have an opportunity to raise topical issues from 11.01pm.
There will be a Private Members’ motion on support for Ukraine discussed in the Seanad from 6pm.
The Committee on Artificial Intelligence will look at guidelines for the responsible use of AI in the public service. It is expected to hear from the Government’s chief information officer, Barry Lowry, among others. The meeting starts at 11am.
At 3pm Ukrainian ambassador Larysa Gerasko will provide an update to the Committee on Foreign Affairs on the situation in her country almost four years after Russia’s invasion began.
The Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration will conduct prelegislative scrutiny of the International Protection Bill 2025. It will hear from representatives from the Department of Justice, Tusla, the Child and Family Agency and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, among others. The meeting starts at 3pm.
The full Dáil, Seanad and committee schedules can be found here.
