The two candidates for the presidency have made pitches to undecided voters in the final TV debate of the campaign.<\/p>\n
Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys and her rival, Catherine Connolly, a left-wing independent TD, faced off in RT\u00c9\u2019s Prime Time on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n
The set-piece aired three days before voters across the country go to the polls on Friday to elect a successor to the outgoing president, Michael D Higgins.<\/p>\n
Former cabinet minister Ms Humphreys opened the debate by condemning as \u201cabsolutely awful\u201d the violence that flared on Tuesday evening elsewhere in Dublin outside a hotel that houses asylum seekers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re seeing members of An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na have been attacked with stones and with such things,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd can I just say that if anybody knows anybody at those riots tonight, please tell them to go home. This is not what we are as a country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Connolly described the disorder outside the Citywest Hotel as \u201cdeeply disturbing\u201d and \u201cupsetting\u201d.<\/p>\n
The disturbances outside the hotel came after an alleged sexual assault in the vicinity in the early hours of Monday morning.<\/p>\n
Ms Connolly said: \u201cIt\u2019s deeply disturbing and I think it\u2019s time for leadership from politicians and indeed, as president \u2013 but I\u2019m not president tonight \u2013 to use our voices to show leadership and to actually analyse what\u2019s happening here and stop conflating things.\u201d<\/p>\n
In respect of her presidential bid, Ms Humphreys said she would strive to \u201cunite people\u201d if elected to serve as the head of state.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a mother, I\u2019m a grandmother, and I have three young grandchildren, and when I look at them, I look and I want to see what kind of a country I want this to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want it to be an inclusive country. I wanted to be a respectful country, and I want it to be a country where they are safe. As, I said, I bring a lot of experience. I\u2019m a centre-ground person. I\u2019m a middle-of-the-road person, like most Irish people.<\/p>\n
\n Please consider me to be your next president and I promise that I will not let you down. I do not promise perfection, but what I do promise is I promise honesty, I promise compassion and I promise service<\/p>\n
Heather Humphreys\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not to the far left, I\u2019m not to the far right.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I\u2019m saying to the people at home tonight: please consider me to be your next president, and I promise that I will not let you down. I do not promise perfection, but what I do promise is I promise honesty, I promise compassion, and I promise service.\u201d<\/p>\n
Setting out her stall, Ms Connolly insisted she represented a \u201cdifferent type of Ireland\u201d as she characterised Ms Humphreys as a \u201cmore of the same\u201d candidate aligned with the outlook of recent governments.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look forward to serving as president of this country,\u201d said the Galway TD.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be an absolute privilege to do that. And I say to the people who are listening and watching that I will do so with humility and with pride, and I will serve the people of Ireland to the best of my ability.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat makes me different? Well, all women find it difficult to say \u2018I\u2019, but I believe that I have the characteristics to make a president.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have the characteristics that reflect what people value in Ireland: care, compassion, solidarity, standing with those who have less, are less well-off than ourselves. I represent a different type of Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, Heather is more of the same in relation to what the governments have done repeatedly over the years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will be an absolutely independent president with an independent mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the debate, Ms Humphreys said that she wished Ms Connolly had clarified her past work as a barrister \u201cmuch sooner\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"Irish](\"https:\/\/img.resized.co\/breaking-news\/eyJkYXRhIjoie1widXJsXCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL2ltYWdlLmFzc2V0cy5wcmVzc2Fzc29jaWF0aW9uLmlvXFxcL3YyXFxcL2ltYWdlXFxcL3Byb2R1Y3Rpb25cXFwvMGEzMGIwNzg2OTJjYzA4NDE3NWYxNDhiOGFlOTM3MThZMjl1ZEdWdWRITmxZWEpqYUdGd2FTd3hOell4TVRjd05ETXhcXFwvMi44MjA5ODYwOS5qcGc_dz02NDBcIixcIndpZHRoXCI6XCI2NDBcIixcImhlaWdodFwiOlwiNDI4XCIsXCJkZWZhdWx0XCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL3d3dy5icmVha2luZ25ld3MuaWVcXFwvaVxcXC9ibi1ub2ltYWdlLnBuZ1wiLFwib3B0aW9uc1wiOntcIm91dHB1dFwiOlwiYXZpZlwiLFwicXVhbGl0eVwiOlwiNTVcIn19IiwiaGFzaCI6IjY5YTI0NDE2ZDM3ZDAxZjJjZThkMTM0ODEzNmRmZDBmMzA0MjVlOGYifQ==\/humphreys-and-connolly-make-pitch-to-voters-in-final-presidential-tv-debate.jpg?w=640\")
Independent candidate Catherine Connolly and Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys following the final debate of the\u00a0 presidential election (Niall Carson\/PA)<\/p>\n
It was put to the independent candidate that she has not answered repeated questions about whether she represented banks in repossessing people\u2019s homes.<\/p>\n
Ms Connolly confirmed that she had represented credit institutions.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy personal experience is that county registers and judges bent over backwards to avoid \u2013 that\u2019s simply my personal experience \u2013 to avoid giving orders for repossessions,\u201d Ms Connolly said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people responsible are the successive governments that refused, except for a very brief period, to put a ban on evictions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Humphreys said that she wished Ms Connolly had answered the question of whether she had represented banks \u201cthree weeks ago\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Fine Gael contender, who is from a Presbyterian background in Co Monaghan, denied that questioning Ms Connolly about her work as a barrister was part of \u201ca smear campaign\u201d as she claimed there were social media posts making \u201chorrible\u201d comments about her family, religion and tradition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish Catherine had said that much sooner, but she was standing up in Galway City Council, and she was castigating those same banks while at the same time she was representing them. And that, to me, is speaking out of both sides of your mouth,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Ms Humphreys was pressed on foreign affairs issues. She insisted she does not accept every EU position and said it \u201cshould have acted sooner\u201d in relation to Gaza.<\/p>\n
She was speaking after being asked about her pro-European stance, which she said was \u201cunlike Catherine\u201d Connolly\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t accept everything, and nobody does accept everything. That\u2019s what Europe is about. It\u2019s about trying to get consensus, about trying to get agreement,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
![\"Irish](\"https:\/\/img.resized.co\/breaking-news\/eyJkYXRhIjoie1widXJsXCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL2ltYWdlLmFzc2V0cy5wcmVzc2Fzc29jaWF0aW9uLmlvXFxcL3YyXFxcL2ltYWdlXFxcL3Byb2R1Y3Rpb25cXFwvMzFlNDk1MzFjMDcwYjEyZDcxZmUyNjVhZTU5OTU3MjdZMjl1ZEdWdWRITmxZWEpqYUdGd2FTd3hOell4TVRjd05Ua3dcXFwvMi44MjA5NzkyMC5qcGc_dz02NDBcIixcIndpZHRoXCI6XCI2NDBcIixcImhlaWdodFwiOlwiNDI4XCIsXCJkZWZhdWx0XCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL3d3dy5icmVha2luZ25ld3MuaWVcXFwvaVxcXC9ibi1ub2ltYWdlLnBuZ1wiLFwib3B0aW9uc1wiOntcIm91dHB1dFwiOlwiYXZpZlwiLFwicXVhbGl0eVwiOlwiNTVcIn19IiwiaGFzaCI6IjBhZmZkNjY2MGY4NjI1ZTkzNTY4MWQzNDNhNWEwYmY5MTljZTNhNmMifQ==\/humphreys-and-connolly-make-pitch-to-voters-in-final-presidential-tv-debate.jpg?w=640\")
Catherine Connolly said \u2018when I become president\u2019 it would be \u2018a different role for me\u2019 than as an outspoken TD (Niall Carson\/PA)<\/p>\n
Ms Connolly said that \u201cwhen I become president\u201d after Friday\u2019s poll, she said it would be \u201ca different role for me\u201d than as an outspoken TD.<\/p>\n
She said that Ireland is a small country that should \u201cspeak truth to power\u201d.<\/p>\n
Asked about what she would say to President Donald Trump about the situation in Gaza if he were to visit Ireland, she said: \u201cIf it\u2019s just a meet and greet, then I will meet and greet.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the discussion is genocide, that\u2019s a completely different thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said she doubted that \u201cGaza will be on the agenda\u201d during a meeting between the Irish president and the US president.<\/p>\n
Ms Connolly, who led the opinion polls in the presidential race, was also pressed on a controversial trip she made to Syria nine years ago in which she encountered pro-Assad figures, including a militia leader accused of starving Palestinian refugees.<\/p>\n
She insisted she had not been naive to participate in the trip.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was no naivety on my part in relation to a dictatorship, the Syrian regime,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never had any doubts about the Syrian dictatorship, unlike countries that supported it.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the questions raised by Lucia O\u2019Farrell, who has long campaigned for her son Shane, who was hit and killed by a car driven by a man who should have been in jail, Ms Humphreys said she \u201cgenuinely\u201d made representations on her behalf.<\/p>\n
Ms O\u2019Farrell has claimed Ms Humphreys did not do enough to support her family\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n
\n She can\u2019t walk around the Dail on her own. She gets a pass every single day. She has to be accompanied by me going around. She has to be in my office. She cannot walk around the Dail<\/p>\n
Catherine Connolly on the security clearance of a woman with a gun conviction\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Asked about the issue, the Fine Gael candidate said: \u201cI did send her out the correspondence that I received from the ministers at the time. So I did my best, and as I said, I\u2019m sorry that I wasn\u2019t able to deliver what they wanted at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Connolly was challenged about a woman with a gun conviction she hired.<\/p>\n
She insisted the woman could not \u201cwalk around the D\u00e1il on her own\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ms Humphreys has said, \u201cyou can\u2019t have rehabilitation without accountability\u201d in relation to the hiring of the woman, an issue which has been raised several times during the campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we need to know is, why did this woman get access to our national parliament, to D\u00e1il \u00c9ireann, without the necessary Garda clearance?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is a serious risk. It was a serious risk, in my view, to our national parliament.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Connolly said that Ms Humphreys had previously said it was common to sign someone in for three weeks while Garda clearance is pending.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re now accepting that it\u2019s a normal procedure while the application is ongoing, and so we now have accepted that nobody raised that this woman was a risk,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTDs sign in people all the time. I signed her in and signed her out.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe can\u2019t walk around the D\u00e1il on her own. She gets a pass every single day. She has to be accompanied by me going around. She has to be in my office. She cannot walk around the D\u00e1il.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Irish](\"https:\/\/img.resized.co\/breaking-news\/eyJkYXRhIjoie1widXJsXCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL2ltYWdlLmFzc2V0cy5wcmVzc2Fzc29jaWF0aW9uLmlvXFxcL3YyXFxcL2ltYWdlXFxcL3Byb2R1Y3Rpb25cXFwvM2FjYjQ5NDMwNjNlYjAxOGQyNmIxNDllZTEwMGEzZGJZMjl1ZEdWdWRITmxZWEpqYUdGd2FTd3hOell4TVRjd05UTXlcXFwvMi44MjA5ODExOC5qcGc_dz02NDBcIixcIndpZHRoXCI6XCI2NDBcIixcImhlaWdodFwiOlwiNDgxXCIsXCJkZWZhdWx0XCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL3d3dy5icmVha2luZ25ld3MuaWVcXFwvaVxcXC9ibi1ub2ltYWdlLnBuZ1wiLFwib3B0aW9uc1wiOntcIm91dHB1dFwiOlwiYXZpZlwiLFwicXVhbGl0eVwiOlwiNTVcIn19IiwiaGFzaCI6Ijc1NTM1OGE2ZmM0NzY1MGMxZWE0MDFmZTZlZjU5MmE1ZDBmZTczODIifQ==\/humphreys-and-connolly-make-pitch-to-voters-in-final-presidential-tv-debate.jpg?w=640\")
Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys said she supported rural pursuits, including fox hunting (Niall Carson\/PA)<\/p>\n
Ms Humphreys was later asked about her support for fox hunting and whether she believed it was cruelty to animals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, fox hunting, among other things, is a rural pursuit, and I support rural pursuits, and people who engage in them,\u201d she told the RT\u00c9 debate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t fox hunt. I\u2019ve never been at a fox hunt, but that\u2019s part of our culture, it\u2019s part of our heritage, and has been there for many, many years. And I support it.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cCruelty to animals in my book is somewhat different to fox hunting. It\u2019s a rural pursuit and there\u2019s a lot of foxes around, as we know, and people go hunting the foxes and once the controls are in place, and once the rules are abided by, I support rural pursuits.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Connolly said she had \u201chuge difficulty with fox hunting for the sake of it\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough I do understand the context of it, I have great difficulty (with fox hunting), and I\u2019ve expressed my opinions in the D\u00e1il in relation to it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, foxes are not a protected species, and that\u2019s a gap. They\u2019re also a threat in terms of wildlife, in terms of sheep and so on.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I think we need to look at it in a slightly different, a broader lens as to what how do we control foxes in a humane way? How do we do that in terms of ecology and in terms of animal welfare?\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about the Irish language, Ms Humphreys said, although she does not speak it fluently, she had been \u201cbrushing up\u201d her skills before the \u201cthroes of Brexit\u201d, and said she would return to learning Irish in Donegal.<\/p>\n
She said the similarities between Ulster Irish and Scottish Gaelic would be emphasised as a \u201cunifying force\u201d if she was president.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I was elected President, I would try to bring people together. I would try to say to them that you see in history where the clergyman came from Scotland, and they came into Ulster and they preached (in) Gaeilge or (in) Scottish Gaelic, and there\u2019s a unifying force there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Connolly, a fluent Irish speaker, said she had never criticised anyone for not using the Irish language.<\/p>\n
\u201cI myself learned it, I went back after school, and it was an absolute privilege to be able to do that in Galway and go back and learn it. Indeed, I\u2019m still learning.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the close of the debate, both candidates said they regretted backing medical advice to impose social restrictions on dying loved ones during the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
They were responding after they were asked about things they regretted as a final question.<\/p>\n
Ms Humphreys said: \u201cWhen I was the minister during Covid, we took medical advice on a number of different things, but what really strikes home, (what) really hits me hard, is the fact that there were regulations there where, when your relative was dying, you couldn\u2019t hold their hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou couldn\u2019t whisper something in their ear, and that stays with me, and I regret that, I really do.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something that is not easy for the families that watched their loved ones dying and they were looking at them through a window.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Connolly said her regret was agreeing with the government in relation to those restrictions.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy personal regret is that I agreed in the first place to the restrictions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The two candidates for the presidency have made pitches to undecided voters in the final TV debate of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-137878","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-eire","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-latest-news","17":"tag-latestnews","18":"tag-main-news","19":"tag-mainnews","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-top-stories","22":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137878","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=137878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Irish](\"https:\/\/img.resized.co\/breaking-news\/eyJkYXRhIjoie1widXJsXCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL2ltYWdlLmFzc2V0cy5wcmVzc2Fzc29jaWF0aW9uLmlvXFxcL3YyXFxcL2ltYWdlXFxcL3Byb2R1Y3Rpb25cXFwvNjg3ZGJhNWIwODIzNDY0MTY0MmMxMTE3NDFkY2IzY2ZZMjl1ZEdWdWRITmxZWEpqYUdGd2FTd3hOell4TVRZMk9UUTJcXFwvMi44MjA5NzU4Mi5qcGc_dz02NDBcIixcIndpZHRoXCI6XCI2NDBcIixcImhlaWdodFwiOlwiNDgwXCIsXCJkZWZhdWx0XCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL3d3dy5icmVha2luZ25ld3MuaWVcXFwvaVxcXC9ibi1ub2ltYWdlLnBuZ1wiLFwib3B0aW9uc1wiOntcIm91dHB1dFwiOlwiYXZpZlwiLFwicXVhbGl0eVwiOlwiNTVcIn19IiwiaGFzaCI6IjUwYWJhNWZjNjY4ZDc3OWYxMDE5YzMzMzE2NWEwNDUyN2Y5MDBjZmEifQ==\/humphreys-and-connolly-make-pitch-to-voters-in-final-presidential-tv-debate.jpg?w=640\")
Independent candidate Catherine Connolly, left, and Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys shake hands ahead of taking part in the final debate (Niall Carson\/PA)<\/p>\n![\"Protesters](\"https:\/\/img.resized.co\/breaking-news\/eyJkYXRhIjoie1widXJsXCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL2ltYWdlLmFzc2V0cy5wcmVzc2Fzc29jaWF0aW9uLmlvXFxcL3YyXFxcL2ltYWdlXFxcL3Byb2R1Y3Rpb25cXFwvMzhkYjU2NDA1MzhjNzY5M2M4YmY1YzMyZGI2NjlhNjBZMjl1ZEdWdWRITmxZWEpqYUdGd2FTd3hOell4TVRjeE9UazRcXFwvMi44MjA5ODQwNC5qcGc_dz02NDBcIixcIndpZHRoXCI6XCI2NDBcIixcImhlaWdodFwiOlwiMzYwXCIsXCJkZWZhdWx0XCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL3d3dy5icmVha2luZ25ld3MuaWVcXFwvaVxcXC9ibi1ub2ltYWdlLnBuZ1wiLFwib3B0aW9uc1wiOntcIm91dHB1dFwiOlwiYXZpZlwiLFwicXVhbGl0eVwiOlwiNTVcIn19IiwiaGFzaCI6IjJhZmMwZDBiY2M0YjAwNDkxNDU2YTBkYTRiMDg1ODI3YzllZmMyYTkifQ==\/humphreys-and-connolly-make-pitch-to-voters-in-final-presidential-tv-debate.jpg?w=640\")
Protesters in Saggart, as disturbances have flared outside Citywest Hotel (Cillian Sherlock\/PA)<\/p>\n