Catherine Connolly, Vincent Browne, and why she wants to be president

Vincent Browne with presidential candidate Catherine Connolly at the Droichead Arts Centre in Drogheda. Picture: Moya Nolan

“Why do you want to be president?” 

He’s back, maybe for one afternoon only, but Vincent Browne returned on Wednesday to put some questions to a politician running for office.

Catherine Connolly is the only serious candidate canvassing for the job right now. 

She is traipsing the highways and byways. 

On Wednesday she was in the Droichead Arts Centre in Drogheda, setting out her stall before an audience of about 100. 

And Browne was asking the questions, brows as arched as ever, eyes on the prey.

Why does she want to be president? 

“We are at a crossroads, a very important point in history,” she replied. 

“We need a voice for peace, who’s not afraid to stand up. The characteristics I would like to see for somebody in the job are courage, compassions, the ability to listen. The people will decide if I have those characteristics.”

If the people in the Arts Centre were anything to go by, she would be home and hosed. 

It’s difficult to envisage any of them voting for anybody else. But then, these kind of gatherings are as much about attracting followers to the standard, getting them to go out and spread the word. 

On those terms, it is safe to say she may have inspired some folk who were looking to be inspired.

Browne kept returning to a theme that is going to follow Connolly around. 

Vincent Browne listens to a question from a member of the audience. Picture: Moya Nolan

He pointed out that she was a politician known for pursuing issues such as equality, tackling poverty and housing.

“You can do nothing about those in the presidency,” he said. 

“It’s the Dáil that matters in terms of getting those things done.”

She didn’t agree. 

People have told me I’d be better off staying in the Dáil, but I think I have pushed as much as I can with the technical group. I’ve used it to the best of my ability.

Without prompting she praised the current incumbent, a no brainer considering his popularity, but one to swallow as they fell out many moons ago over constituency politics.

“I think Michael D has done a great job,” she said.

“He has spoken out and taken some flak. So did Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese. I think I would like to continue with that.”

Cue round of applause, not the first nor the last she would receive over the 75 minutes she answered questions.

There is a freshness about her, an informality that may chime with some, particularly younger, voters. 

She wore a leather jacket and runners, the latter surely the way to go if you’re going to be on your feet through a long campaign.

The triple lock on neutrality was raised more than once. She described herself as a committed pacifist. She mentioned that she was a mother of two and had read widely on the “destructive consequences of war”. 

The inference appears to be that those who have a different opinion on the triple lock would be more inclined to send young people off to war. 

There isn’t a scintilla of evidence for such a thesis, but it is one that has some traction among those who would be at the heart of Connolly’s electorate.

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Did she want, Browne asked, Ireland to leave the EU, as she had described it in terms of being a warmongering entity. 

No, she replied, she was a committed European.

“Europe can be a force for peace,” she said. 

“Theoratically that’s why it was set up. Now most of the economies in Europe are beginning to thrive because of the arms industry. 

"One has to use one’s voice to stand up and call out what’s happening.”

Browne asked her about going to Syria when Assad ruled the country. 

She meandered around it, but did point out that every time she is asked about it the names of Mick Wallace and Clare Daly are raised, but never that of Maureen O’Sullivan, who was also there. 

Ms O’Sullivan, it is fair to say, does not divide opinion as the two former MEPs do.

She criticised different approaches from the government between the war in Ukraine and the genocide in Gaza. 

All of this her audience lapped up. The questions from the floor were in a similar vein. The converted were in effect preaching to themselves.

One student in the audience did ask whether, if elected, she would do anything about the price of drink and the decline of a vibrant nightlife in towns and cities.

“I think I’ll leave that to Vincent,” she replied.

“I was going to ask you whether there would be a disco in the Áras,” Browne replied.

Vincent Browne and Catherine Connolly. Picture: Moya Nolan

Catherine Connolly is a serious candidate but it remains to be seen how serious a broad swathe of the electorate will take her. 

There are echoes with previous campaigns. A previous outsider, Mary Robinson, traversed the country meeting all manner of small groups wherever she went. She also began about six months earlier than Connolly has.

Connolly is politically from the same side of the street as the current incumbent. 

Michael D, however, largely canvassed down the white line and only veered back left when safely tucked up in the Áras. 

This particular campaign, in which many of her probable opponents are still in the long grass, has a way to go. She is highly unlikely to implode. Beyond that, anything can happen.