Gerard Howlin: In un dibattito presidenziale a bassa energia, solo un candidato ha acceso una scintilla

> Because she entered the debate as the supposed front-runner, Humphreys had most to lose. She never put a foot wrong, but her energy seemed to flag as time went on

Never put a foot wrong? JFC.  Client journalism at its best cos Humphries remarks shitting on the OTB, and her cackhanded comments about housing felt like big missteps. Maybe even fatal ones with a few potential voters.

>never put a fun wrong

Didn’t put much right though either. She was there, but certainly wasn’t a stand out for any reason.

It’s an election with the clueless (Jim Gavin who doesn’t seem to understand the role of the job he’s going for which is… concerning…), the present (Heather Humphrey’s, who was there but that’s about it), and the one who seems to need to apologise every time she opens her mouth, and it’s she (Catherine Connolly), who seems to have an actual understanding of the job. And she can speak Irish, which is important to me, considering that an intrinsic understanding of the language is an actual requirement for the job, as the Irish language version of the constitution takes precedence in the event of any disagreement between English and Irish versions.

I will say, Connolly seems to have had training in the debate which gives me hope that she might grow well into the role.

That’s about the highest praise I can give to the three candidates.

Haven’t yet seen any write ups talking about the geopolitical blunders of Jim Gavin, who is supposed to be a former army man and a serious person on this stuff.

For all the talk that Connolly’s views are student politics or unserious, it was Gavin who flatly stated that Hamas shouldn’t be involved in peace talks.

That’s student politics, and particularly bad from someone wanting to be president of a country on an island where we know that you need to hold your nose and bring the gunmen to the table if you want peace.

The Irishtimes backing the blueshirt candidate.


I have huge reservations about Connolly, particularly around her associations and commonalities with the odious Moscow Mick and Damascus Daly, but Humphries and Gavin were awful last night.

Connolly was the only one that could speak properly, and had any semblance of a Presidential nature. At least she’s clear, sharp and articulate.

Humphries just mumbled and stuttered meaningless banalities. Her whole presentation was of haggard county councillor rather than Head of State. I actually wanted to give her a chance, because I think a lot of the commentary on her regarding her family’s Protestant background is very unfair, but she’s a hard no after last night.

For someone who obviously has credible leadership abilities in their sporting/professional life, Gavin came across as lacking any kind of charisma at all. He must have mispronounced about a quarter of the words he spoke, and his arms looked like they were being controlled by a puppeteer up in the rigging.

Thankfully the President has limited power, because it’s a poor group to be choosing from. I think I’ll be holding my nose and voting Connolly.

It feels to me like Gavin’s campaign has been badly run. He generally didn’t say much apart from generic management speak when over the Dublin team so there was a certain element of mystique behind his entry into the race.

They have blown that completely with the cringey farm video, posing holding up ice creams with MM at the ploughing, etc. Its like someone who ran an election campaign in the mid 90s was put in charge, he looks just like any 50s Fianna Fail man when there was an opportunity to do something a little bit different.