Pressure on presidential candidates to redraw focus on campaign
Fine Gael presidential candidate Heather Humphreys, presenters Cormac Ó hEadhra and Sarah McInerney, and independent presidential candidate Catherine Connolly in studio for the candidate's debate on 'Drivetime'. Picture:
With the budget in the rear-view window and all attention now on the presidency, the pressure is on independent Catherine Connolly and Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys to get people excited about the campaign.
If they want to beat the buzz caused by Jim Gavin’s withdrawal from the race and get people talking, both are going to have to do better and go further to revive this dull election.
They are also going to have to learn how to turn up to events on time.
On Thursday afternoon, Ms Humphreys was in Dublin to visit workers on their lunch break who were queuing up at the food stands on Mespil Road.
All office workers know that the one hour you get for lunch is precious. Perhaps this was why very few people showed any interest as the Humphreys campaign rolled through.
The other issue was that she was 45 minutes late and missed a large part of the lunchtime rush, turning up at 1.15pm rather than 12.30pm.
Everyone shook her hand politely but showed little interest. No one was interested in entertaining conversation as they took leaflets and politely wished her luck.
But Ms Humphreys also could have worked a little harder to engage them, with conversations often sounding forced.
Even the dogs were not in the mood for the Fine Gael candidate, with one pup squealing from their owner's arms as she passed.
The easiest conversation of the day was when one “upcoming estate agent” asked her about apprenticeships. This gave her a chance to talk about her time as a minister and the work she did with education and training boards.
Other than having the leaflet, the people who met Ms Humphreys would not know what she was standing for, as she failed to go into detail about the platform she was running on.
Both candidates took a break from the campaign trail in the afternoon time to go to RTÉ Radio 1 to take part in a debate on .
It may have been their first head-to-head debate following Jim Gavin’s withdrawal from the race, but there was no change in the heat levels.
While they traded occasional barbs and interrupted each other to disagree, it was, once again, an affair with fireworks.
The only standout moment was when Ms Connolly said she was able to do 100 keepie uppies once upon a time. Ms Humphreys said her hidden talent was “listening”.
After the debate, Ms Connolly travelled to Dublin Rathdown, where she attended a rally in the Taney Parish Centre, which was meant to start at 6pm.
There was a hiccup, however, when heavy Thursday evening Dublin traffic and a late taxi meant that Ms Connolly’s journey was delayed.
In her absence, local Social Democrats TD Sinead Gibney decided to surprise the local reps and force them to explain to the room why they were backing the Connolly campaign.
The rally, while not packed to the rafters, attracted a diverse age range, with young supporters and the grey vote all represented.
While she probably beat Ms Humphreys in the debate, Ms Connolly also beat her in tardiness, arriving 55 minutes late.
She was up against the clock from the start, as the hall was required for badminton at 7.30pm.
Ms Connolly joked that she was nearly out of words when she arrived, as she promised the crowd she would “be an independent president with an independent mind”.
“If you don’t want someone like that, vote for the other candidate,” she said.
There was a quick trip to Dundrum Town Centre, where one security guard told her that once, he shook hands with Micheál Martin, and he had gone on to become taoiseach.
Ms Connolly quickly shook his hand and hopped into a photograph before being whisked away.
Ms Connolly and Ms Humphreys will continue to pound the pavements for the next fortnight in their bid to secure the keys to Áras an Uachtáran.
Hopefully, the house comes with a clock so our new president can learn about punctuality.
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