Main Points
- Catherine Connolly supporters have been accused by Fine Gael of a negative campaign against Heather Humphreys over her religion and family.
- Last night’s debate largely went over ground that has become familiar in recent weeks.
- The tenth 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.
Rest 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 - the Presidential election explained
- Have your say: Share your view on the presidential 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.
