{"id":128955,"date":"2025-10-17T22:23:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T22:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/128955\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T22:23:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T22:23:10","slug":"voters-at-corks-english-market-unmoved-by-presidential-race-between-connolly-and-humphreys-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/128955\/","title":{"rendered":"Voters at Cork\u2019s English Market unmoved by presidential race between Connolly and Humphreys \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

It may be a week out from voting in the presidential election<\/a> but it isn\u2019t setting the world alight in Cork\u2019s English Market.<\/p>\n

In the popular indoor market, every second person either has no interest or no opinion in candidates Independent Catherine Connolly<\/a> or Fine Gael\u2019s Heather Humphreys<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had a preference for Catherine Connolly from the get-go,\u201d says Paul Smith, who is originally from Kildare but who has been living in Cork for 16 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst, she speaks Irish, but she\u2019s always been on the radar as a person who\u2019s been socially minded \u2013 Michael D<\/a> was the same \u2013 I think she would be a good continuation of his presidency,\u201d says Smith, a horticulture school employee who usually leans left in his voting.<\/p>\n

\"PaulPaul Smith has been living in Cork for 16 years.
\nPhotograph: Michael Mac Sweeney\/Provision <\/p>\n

Currently between jobs and new to Cork, Westmeath native Jack Vaughan tends to vote left too. He has decided to vote for Connolly.<\/p>\n

He concedes it\u2019s \u201ca bit mad\u201d that there are only two candidates and he would prefer if there was a broader representation of runners.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Catherine Connolly talks a lot more sense; she just comes across a lot more professional \u2013 I don\u2019t think Heather Humphreys is as good a speaker \u2013 she\u2019s all \u2018um, um, um\u2019. Plus, I don\u2019t think someone with her Orange Order links, given what it stands for in the North, should be in the \u00c1ras.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Presidential election explained: the candidates, how to vote, the powers of the president, and when will we know the result?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Nora Quinn from Kinsale, a floating voter, says she is distinctly unimpressed with Connolly\u2019s unwillingness to answer directly questions about signing a person convicted of firearms offences into D\u00e1il \u00c9ireann daily for six months.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there is much of a choice, but I will be voting for Heather because I don\u2019t think she will rock the boat and will represent us well,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

\"JackJack Vaughan would prefer if there was a broader representation of runners. Photograph: Michael Mac Sweeney\/Provision <\/p>\n

Another reason she is voting for Humphreys: Quinn is involved with Kinsale Tidy Towns and Humphreys has been supportive of Tidy Towns competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure the other lady is very good, but she doesn\u2019t answer any question directly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aubrey Creed from Cork usually votes for Independents or the Social Democrats but \u201cnever for any of the Fs\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m voting for Catherine Connolly; she gives me the feeling she is going to be like Michael D, a good representative of the country,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\"NoraNora Quinn in Cork’s English Market.
\nPhotograph: Michael Mac Sweeney\/Provision <\/p>\n

John O\u2019Connell, a special needs assistant from Cork city and another left-leaning voter who has never voted for Fianna F\u00e1il or Fine Gael, is unimpressed with the choice and is not enamoured of Connolly. He won\u2019t vote for either candidate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never vote for Fine Gael and I don\u2019t know Catherine Connolly, but I don\u2019t like what she says about a lot of things \u2013 about Ukraine, about France, about Germany,” he says.<\/p>\n

Helen O\u2019Callaghan, who runs the Meat Centre in the market, says she will spoil her vote in protest as she doesn\u2019t believe there is a great choice. Neither candidate could hold a candle to Michael D Higgins, she says. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m Fianna F\u00e1il, and I\u2019ve voted all my life but I\u2019m going to spoil my vote \u2013 they\u2019re just not good enough \u2013 all they are doing is b**ching at each other every night on television,” she says. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd a lot of people coming up to the counter are spoiling their votes too because they are not happy with the choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here, in the heart of Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a>\u2019s Cork South Central constituency, one constituent is surprised at his choice of Jim Gavin<\/a>, whose campaign imploded over an issue with a former tenant dating back 16 years.<\/p>\n

John O\u2019Connell says Martin picked him because of his record as Dublin GAA football manager but didn\u2019t think of how he would be in a race for the \u00c1ras. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure he was grand as Dublin football manager, but he never said much as Dublin football manager so why would he say much as president?\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Who should you vote for as president? Use this tool to see which candidate matches your viewsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It may be a week out from voting in the presidential election but it isn\u2019t setting the world…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,1921,18,13,14,6,19,17,19487,11,12,15,16,5,59,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-128955","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-catherine-connolly","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-jim-gavin","18":"tag-latest-news","19":"tag-latestnews","20":"tag-main-news","21":"tag-mainnews","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-presidential-election","24":"tag-top-stories","25":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128955","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=128955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}