Busy day for presidential candidates on the campaign trail

Catherine Connolly was whisked around Kildare, while Heather Humphreys focused on Dublin city centre.

Catherine Connolly singing with Rose O’Louasa from Cork, a member of the Past Times Choir in the McAuley Community Centre in Naas. Picture: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Catherine Connolly's stamina was put to the test on Tuesday.

A morning debate with Heather Humphreys was followed by a sprint through Kildare, Clane to Celbridge, to Leixlip, to Maynooth, and all this included a chair aerobics class in the community centre at McAuley Place in Naas.

Ms Connolly's arrival within the community centre was warmly greeted, but outside, she was confronted by a small group of protestors who shouted questions about Enoch and Elijah Burke. 

The interruption forced an end to a meeting with first-time voters.

Catherine Connolly taking part in a chair aerobics class at the McAuley Community Centre in Naas. Picture: Eamonn Farrell /  RollingNews.ie

Unperturbed, Ms Connolly engaged in a chair aerobics class before a visit to Clane's Men's Shed, where she was shown some woodturning projects, telling those in attendance that her husband is a former woodwork teacher who still has some woodturning equipment because he's "a bit of a hoarder".

Surely then, one man suggested, Áras an Uachtaráin would be suitable for storage? 

"Ba mhaith liom níos mó spás," Ms Connolly joked.

From there, a visit to the gates of Castletown House in Celbridge, where locals have been engaged in a long-running dispute with the OPW over access to the green space. 

Ms Connolly, whose campaign struck social media gold with a video of her doing soccer solos last week, was gifted a football, with Save Castletown emblazoned on it, but declined to show off her skills.

Another ball was handed to the Galway woman in Leixlip as she was mobbed by children at Scoil Mhuire and Scoil Cearbhaill Uí Dhalaigh, a gaelscoil named for a former president. 

There, she signed Irish books and homework diaries, before making time for the media at a shopping centre on the outskirts of the town.

There, she rejected the idea that her politics is divisive, saying that her previous election as the first female leas ceann comhairle in the history of the State was built on respect from across the Dáil.

Next, on to Maynooth to speak to students and do an interview with RTÉ.

In the Newstalk debate earlier in the day, Ms Connolly said the campaign had "felt like" it had been seven years already, long before anyone takes up residence in Áras an Uachtaráin.

Humphreys campaign

In Dublin, meanwhile, Heather Humphreys was on the campaign trail in the city centre.

Stopping into The Kitchen Whisk on Wicklow St, Humphreys came upon a group of shop employees taking part in some knife-sharpening training.

While this may be metaphorically more appropriate for Fianna Fáil TDs, who have been left red-faced after their candidate Jim Gavin dropped out, Fine Gael may consider brushing up themselves if Humphreys doesn’t get over the line next Saturday.

In the short walk between Newstalk and Grafton Street, Ms Humphreys came upon a group of students, heading on their way to the Europa Experience on Chatham St.

She was quick to talk up her own EU credentials with the students, before she made a further dash up the street and into Bewley’s.

Fine Gael presidential candidate Heather Humphreys talking to people while having lunch in Bewleys Cafe on Grafton Street. Picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Once there, the Fine Gael candidate got the endorsement of a former Labour TD Mary Upton.

Ms Upton described Ms Humphreys as the best candidate by “100 miles”.

“She’s very capable, she’s very experienced, and I want a candidate who will represent all the people and who knows when not to say too much,” she said.

Presidental candidate Heather Humphreys with former Labour TD Mary Upton in Bewleys.

It wasn’t the only endorsement Ms Humphreys would receive, with three former tánaistí backing the Fine Gael candidate.

This included Fianna Fáil’s Mary Coughlan, Fine Gael’s Frances Fitzgerald, and the Progressive Democrats' Mary Harney.

In a day when two former Green Party representatives — former Limerick City TD Brian Leddin and senator Pauline O'Reilly — came out in support of Ms Humphreys, she will hope that it is not stamina, but numbers which sees her over the line.