{"id":104591,"date":"2025-10-06T01:42:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T01:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/104591\/"},"modified":"2025-10-06T01:42:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T01:42:09","slug":"scrums-at-dublin-city-centre-canvass-as-party-leaders-turn-out-for-connollys-campaign-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/104591\/","title":{"rendered":"Scrums at Dublin city centre canvass as party leaders turn out for Connolly\u2019s campaign \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAre ye making a film,\u201d the teenager bawled across the street. \u201cCan I be in it?\u201d he called.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re too late, it\u2019s over,\u201d came the response as broadcasters and reporters wrapped up their cameras and microphones after a \u201cdoorstep\u201d press conference outside the campaign office of Independent presidential<\/a> candidate Catherine Connolly<\/a> in the north inner city.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters after the three-way debate on RT\u00c9<\/a>\u2019s The Week in Politics with Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys<\/a> and Fianna F\u00e1il\u2019s Jim Gavin<\/a>, Connolly rejected claims she had circumvented security in employing a woman convicted on firearms offences to work in the D\u00e1il in 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have Jim Gavin today saying that I went around the security process, utterly untrue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HollyHolly Cairns, leader of the Social Democrats, takes a selfie with Connolly on O’Connell Street. Photograph: Conor O’Mearain\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

She said \u201cthe real story here is this woman [who] is an absolutely positive news story, a news story of rehabilitation, of changing her life around and moving on. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd surely that\u2019s what we should be celebrating. Surely that\u2019s what we should be saying to the prison service, you\u2019ve done a good job here.\u201d<\/p>\n

She declined to comment on the controversy about Gavin\u2019s time as a landlord and she said her showing in the Sunday Independent\/Ireland Thinks poll \u201creflects the reaction that I\u2019ve been getting on the ground, and not just me, but the movement that I represent.\u201d<\/p>\n

She then zipped down the road with a couple of her campaign team to walk to O\u2019Connell Street and the Spire for a city centre photo with the alliance of left-wing party leaders who support her candidacy, and a quick canvass.<\/p>\n

Amid chaotic scenes on O\u2019Connell street she stood for photos with Sinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald, Labour leader Ivana Bacik and Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns, all surrounded by party TDs, councillors and supporters.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Jim Gavin \u2018looking into\u2019 allegation he owes former tenant \u20ac3,300Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Under instruction from a cameraman they all cheered loudly as McDonald proclaimed \u201cCatherine ab\u00fa\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Sinn F\u00e9in leader said Connolly had handled the firearms conviction controversy \u201cwith clarity and candour. She made clear that no rule was broken\u201d and she gave a young woman chance to get her life back on track. \u201cI think those are the qualities that demonstrate precisely why she could and I believe will make a really excellent Uachtar\u00e1in\u201d. <\/p>\n

Labour leader Ivana Bacik said her party is \u201cstill in discussions\u201d but has \u201calready made a substantial contribution\u201d to the campaign. She would not reveal the amount, saying it would be declared in their election returns. \u201cTo be fair I don\u2019t think any party is saying how much they\u2019re giving at this stage.\u201d <\/p>\n

She added however that \u201ca really impressive\u201d \u20ac130,000 had been raised from individual contributions. <\/p>\n

\"CatherineCatherine Connolly (left) with Holly Cairns (centre) and Mary Lou McDonald. Photograph: Conor O’Mearain\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns said the firearms conviction controversy \u201chasn\u2019t featured on the doorsteps, at all. Nobody has mentioned it.\u201d <\/p>\n

She said \u201cthe response has been incredible\u201d and \u201cit\u2019s great to be the first party out in support of her\u201d.<\/p>\n

Then, Joshua Ryan, a fourth-class primary school student, showed her a poster he had written \u201cin very good handwriting\u201d, someone noted. Headlined \u201cCatherine Connolly for President\u201d it said she wants people to \u201craise their voice\u201d to fight for education and a home for everyone. <\/p>\n

Is he involved with any political party? It turns out he\u2019s a fan of Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon, who canvassed his house during an election and whose cartoon poster he liked. <\/p>\n

\"ConnollyConnolly meets a young supporter, Joshua (10), on O’Connell Street on Sunday. Photograph: Conor O’Mearain\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

A media scrum followed by an even bigger scrum of supporters then followed the leaders as they made it across the road to stop in front of the GPO for more pictures with councillors and party members.<\/p>\n

The candidate managed in the melee to canvass a few potential voters. Kayla Rooney (18) from the city centre and Amy Deering (18) from Ballymun haven\u2019t made up their minds. \u201cI haven\u2019t finished my research yet,\u201d said Kayla but \u201cI like her\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s very polite, well-mannered and professional,\u201d said Amy.<\/p>\n

John from Dublin, who declined to give his surname was in town with his family and was canvassed briefly. What\u2019s his view of the candidate? <\/p>\n

\u201cI think she\u2019s lovely.\u201d <\/p>\n

The city centre is a tricky place for canvassing and can be hit and miss for voters, with people from all nationalities. Fares Mesbah (30) from Algeria was beaming after he got a selfie with the candidate. A university security guard in Ireland for the past two-and-a-half years, he wasn\u2019t sure if he had a vote.<\/p>\n

To vote in a presidential election you have to be a citizen and Fares is not. But \u201cI like her. She was involved before in Galway and my friend there told me about her.\u201d <\/p>\n

After about 40 minutes it was time to go for another canvass in Ballybough and the candidate headed back to campaign headquarters with just two of her supporters. Some passersby recognised her and said hello while others held bemused expressions, as though trying to remember where they knew her from. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cAre ye making a film,\u201d the teenager bawled across the street. \u201cCan I be in it?\u201d he called.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,1921,52,18,13,14,4771,553,6,555,19,17,19487,9171,11,12,15,16,16594,5,59,1181,47,18578,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-104591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-catherine-connolly","11":"tag-dublin","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-featured-news","14":"tag-featurednews","15":"tag-fianna-fail","16":"tag-fine-gael","17":"tag-headlines","18":"tag-heather-humphreys","19":"tag-ie","20":"tag-ireland","21":"tag-jim-gavin","22":"tag-labour-party","23":"tag-latest-news","24":"tag-latestnews","25":"tag-main-news","26":"tag-mainnews","27":"tag-mary-lou-mcdonald","28":"tag-news","29":"tag-presidential-election","30":"tag-rte","31":"tag-sinn-fein","32":"tag-social-democrats","33":"tag-top-stories","34":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}