Copyright anphoblacht
In the end she won by a landslide. Taking 914,143 votes and 63.36% of the total valid poll Catherine Connolly stormed home with the Government-backed candidate Heather Humphreys of Fine Gael getting 29.46% of the vote. It is a victory for progressive politics as Catherine Connolly stood clearly for fair distribution of wealth, housing as a right, Irish neutrality, solidarity with Palestine, the Irish language and of course Irish Unity. She was backed by Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats, the Labour Party, People Before Profit, the Green Party and progressive independents. The election was a disaster for both government parties of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Mícheál Martin used all his political capital within his party to force an unsuitable candidate on them. Jim Gavin took up the Fianna Fáil standard but fell before the battle even began. He always looked and sounded out of place. The handling of his 16-year-old debt to his former tenant was incredibly inept and it sank his candidacy. It showed a lack of competence and credibility on his part and on the part of Fianna Fáil. Fine Gael’s preferred candidate Máiréad McGuinness ruled herself out early on and the choice came down to Heather Humphreys. She took on the job as a duty to her party, having previously fully retired from politics. She was clearly out of her league and suffered in comparison to Connolly in all the media debates. A mood close to panic soon gripped Fine Gael. Their former minister turned mouthy broadcaster Ivan Yates quipped that if he was asked for advice he would tell Fine Gael to “smear the bejaysus” out of Catherine Connolly with visions of “a provo in the Park”. Fine Gael proceeded to take Yates’s advice, a move that backfired badly on them, especially when they issued a Trump-style attack video. This writer met one voter who was likely typical of many. He said he was not going to vote at all until the attacks on Connolly motivated him to vote for her. • Catherine Connolly stormed home The Sunday Independent reverted to reactionary type with a series of articles attacking Connolly. And there are serious questions for the media overall, much of which showed bias towards the Government-backed candidate. The endless repetition of the same questions - supposedly damaging to Connolly - in interviews and debates went way over the top. There was a failure to broaden and deepen the discussion, a failure especially notable in the final Prime Time debate, even though it lasted well over an hour. That said, the election was notable for the inclusion in most debates of Irish Unity as a major issue, much to the annoyance, no doubt, of Mícheál Martin. It reflected the growing discussion across Ireland and the widespread recognition of the need to prepare for the referendum and for a successful outcome, a new United Ireland. A new Republic, in Catherine Connolly’s words. As Catherine Connolly begins what promises to be a constructive and inclusive presidency, the parties of the left are contemplating what this victory means. Without question it shows the potential for greater co-operation in Opposition in the Oireachtas. It also shows what can be done working together in campaigns on the ground, for example on housing and the cost of living. Much work needs to be done but common approaches, shared platforms and co-operative groundwork could lead to a broad progressive programme and mutual support through vote transfers across the left in the next General Election. If this can be done successfully there is the real prospect of replacing the Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil duopoly for the first time with a government of the left. The Connolly victory was a victory for hope. It was badly needed. The high number of spoilt votes, while to a certain extent a reflection of recent events, also demonstrated a level of more long-term disillusionment with and disengagement from politics in a section of the population. All the elements of regressive conservatism and the far right will now try to claim those spoilt votes as their own but it is far from that simple. The left needs to engage directly with people in communities, it needs to hear them, speak to them and show that there is hope and the real possibility for change, beyond the chaos, hate and despair that dominates the toxic swamp of social media. On RTÉ’s ‘The Week in Politics’ Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald looked forward to taking on the Government as part of a united and newly emboldened opposition. Welcoming Catherine Connolly’s victory she said: “This was an historic election, perhaps a watershed moment in Irish politics, in which the combined opposition came together to take on Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. We presented a real, positive alternative to the stifling politics that has failed generation after generation. It shows exactly what is possible when we work together. “This victory today presents an opportunity to turn the page. Our job now is to harness the energy of the campaign and the hope this vote represents and use it to redouble our efforts in standing up for ordinary workers and families. It is also an opportunity to advance towards Irish Unity. It is likely that a referendum on Irish Unity will happen during Catherine’s Presidency and the government needs to start preparing for it now.”
