Race to the Áras: The good, the bland and the controversial all on display as campaign heats up
Irish presidential candidates, from left, independent candidate Catherine Connolly, Fianna Fáil candidate Jim Gavin, and Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys, prior to the start of the first presidential debate on 'The Tonight Show' on Virgin Media.
In just over three weeks, we will know who will be the next president of Ireland.
If that date has snuck up on you, then you haven't been obsessing about the election, which makes you a normal human being.
This week was the first full week in which the field was set. It marked the real start of the campaign, with Monday night's debate on Virgin Media TV.
In a timid affair, none of the three candidates — Catherine Connolly (Ind), Jim Gavin (FF), and Heather Humphreys (FG) — separated themselves, but all avoided major slip-ups as the campaign begins to simmer.
All three candidates have begun to rack up the mileage in a bid to press the flesh and win over the voters.
Catherine Connolly took to the streets of a rain-sodden Ballyfermot on Tuesday, while Jim Gavin headed to Roscommon. Heather Humphreys made her way through Louth on Wednesday and Meath on Thursday.
In Trim on Thursday, the former minister stopped by a dog bed, saying her Yorkshire terrier Rusty had eaten much of his.
On Wednesday, Mr Gavin was running a 10km in the Phoenix Park when he stopped to speak to journalists, mainly about his use of drones.
By Friday, Ms Connolly had added Galway and Cork to her odometer and Mr Gavin was in Carlow, Kilkenny, Portlaoise and Kildare.
The miles are racking up.
Heather Humphreys, quite simply, avoided controversy.
Ms Humphreys is the most seasoned media performer, but her performance in Monday's debate was passive, almost by design.
A solid if unspectacular sit-down interview with RTE's Claire Byrne was followed by some positive canvassing, but Ms Humphreys' major achievement this week was simply avoiding being dragged into anything negative.
Catherine Connolly's strong debate performance showed her composure and her communication skills.
Albeit by a small margin, she emerged as the debate's winner.
Following that, with good canvasses in Dublin while maintaining her Dáil appearances, the week was looking solid.
However, she was forced to answer revelations that she had employed a woman who had been convicted of firearms offences in Leinster House in 2018.
The woman was sentenced to six years in jail by the Special Criminal Court for the gun crime. It was also reported she was a former member of the dissident republican political party, Éirígí.
Ms Connolly was able to answer many of the questions by making a virtue of her forgiveness and belief in rehabilitation, but she would have preferred not to have her judgement questioned this close to election day.
Jim Gavin's week was far from a disaster, let's be clear about that.
But he show this is new territory to him.
He grew into Monday's debate but failed to really explain why he wants to or should be president.
Other problems came in the form of two very mild controversies which, in reality, were little enough to do with his actions.
First, it was revealed a video of him running a Parkrun with public expenditure Minister Jack Chambers had featured drone footage taken within a restricted area for drone usage.
As the chief operations officer for the Irish Aviation Authority, it was a little embarrassing.
Mr Gavin's other former job — in the Defence Forces — also caused an issue as he felt compelled to delete an Instagram video which named a serving Defence Forces member in Lebanon.
1. There is huge interest in the campaign: According to Virgin Media, almost 650,000 viewers tuned in on Monday forthe first presidential election debate.
Hosted by Kieran Cuddihy, the programme brought the three candidates together for their first head-to-head of the campaign, and while it didn't deliver much in the way of fireworks, it suggests a major interest in the campaign.
2. Language may matter: The Irish language is not something most people speak, but it appears to be something people care about.
Ms Connolly is the only candidate who is fluent, with Mr Gavin saying he has some Irish and Ms Humphreys, a former Gaeltacht minister, committing to relearning.
The question has come up time and again on the campaign trail.
3. The left is united (mostly): In Ballyfermot on Tuesday, Ms Connolly was joined by councillors from Sinn Féin, Labour and People Before Profit, as well as Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh and other left-wing activists.
It was interesting, then, to see Sinn Féin defend Ms Connolly almost as one of their own later in the week, roundly denying suggestions she had questions to answer on the hiring of Ursula Ní Shionnáin.
Labour's Alan Kelly, who has publicly said he would not back Ms Connolly, however, said the issue was "alarming".
"Have you any chips for me?" — Heather Humphreys encounters a group of schoolboys in Trim, who unfortunately only had rolls.
"At what point were the military objectives of Israel reached Jim? At 20,000 dead, 30,000?" — Catherine Connolly turns Jim Gavin's comments on the situation in Gaza on him during the debate.
"I saw Bernard Brogan and Paddy Andrews putting up a poster. I did note that Paddy was holding the ladder and Bernard was doing all the work!" — former Dublin boss Jim Gavin on the support from his former players.
In the aftermath of the debate, Ladbrokes said Ms Humphreys remained its favourite to win the race to the Áras.
She's at 11/10, with Ms Connolly at 13/8 and Mr Gavin at 11/4.
Sunday will see the second TV debate take place at midday on RTÉ One's .
And, if you like debates, this is the week for you.
Thursday will see one on RTÉ Radio One's and next Sunday will see another on .
After those two, there will only be three debates left.
During the week, the candidates are set to criss-cross the country, but Tuesday's budget could lead to more fodder for all of the debates.
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