Louise Burne: If this was Humphreys’ last chance, she didn’t take it
Despite RTÉ Prime Time hosts Sarah McInerney and Miriam O'Callaghan, the supposed debate between presidential hopefuls Catherine Connolly and Heather Humphreys was more like two parallel interviews. Picture: Naoise Culhane
When you hear the word 'debate', you think of rambunctious back-and-forths, jaw-dropping arguments, and spicy insults.
Maybe it is election fatigue, or maybe it is the fact that they are sick of the sight of each other, but independent candidate Catherine Connolly and Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys seem to have forgotten the meaning of the word debate.
Thankfully, the final debate of the presidential election campaign took place on RTÉ’s on Tuesday evening ahead of the polls opening on Friday.
It was the seventh debate in the space of the month.
Just two of these debates featured Fianna Fáil’s Jim Gavin before he pulled out of the race on October 5.
This means we have seen and heard five debates between just Ms Connolly and Ms Humphreys. This is in addition to a plethora of one-on-one broadcast interviews, print interviews, and podcast appearances.
As one source in the Fine Gael camp argued this week, the campaign schedule and the media requirements were not designed for a campaign with just two people.
The latest debate was proof of this.
While it certainly had a few testy moments, once again, the candidates, unfortunately, held back from jumping down each other’s throats.
It was oftentimes more like two interviews happening in parallel, with occasional jibes rather than a debate, despite some good work from hosts Sarah McInerney and Miriam O’Callaghan.
Another important part of debating is remembering the arguments you have been making and sticking to them.
At one stage, Ms Humphreys appeared to have forgotten the Fine Gael line of attack.
The party’s criticism of Ms Connolly’s work as a barrister has intensified in recent days. It asked repeatedly if she was involved in home repossession cases.
It is a fair question, and it is right to say Ms Connolly has not answered it.
On October 8, Ms Connolly said she had taken on “all types of work” as a barrister, including for “banking institutions”.
In the debate, the Galway West TD insisted that she “absolutely confirmed that I worked for credit institutions”, but stated she was “asked to specify” and that she “wouldn’t do that”.
Ms Humphreys said that Ms Connolly was “saying now that she did represent banks” and she “wished she had answered that three weeks ago”.
The issue is that Ms Connolly had said this, and this was not the answer Fine Gael was chasing.
It was a clumsy mistake from Ms Humphreys, who let Ms Connolly get away with not answering the prosecution part of the question.
While Ms Connolly did not have any standout moments, stumbles from Ms Humphreys made her look much stronger.
Other parts of the debates featured spin-offs of the same questions we have heard before, including about complaints from hit-and-run victim Shane O’Farrell’s family that Ms Humphreys had not advocated for them, as well as Ms Connolly’s trip to Syria and her decision to hire a woman with a gun conviction.
One new and interesting question came at the end of the debate when the candidates were asked to divulge their biggest regrets.
Ms Humphreys said that even though the Government followed medical advice, she regretted there were no other ways found to deal with the covid restrictions, stating that she it “really hits her hard” that people could not be with their dying relatives.
Ms Connolly stated that she regretted that she agreed with the restrictions in the first place, despite, she said, doing so in good faith. This could lead her open to questioning about whether she opposed the health restrictions.
But it was also a smart way of her saying that she supported the Government on one occasion and regretted it.
As the debates finally come to an end, voters will now be left alone with their thoughts as they decide who to vote for.
You would have to question if these debates have served their purpose and if they have helped anyone decide.
Do voters feel like they are stuck in a constant state of Déjà vu? Or do they feel that they have learned about the candidates during these outings?
While a debate may not win an election, as previous encounters have shown, it can certainly lose you one.
Ms Humphreys needed to ensure she dealt a fatal blow in a bid to close the gap that the opinion polls have suggested exists between herself and Ms Connolly.
Whether she has done enough will only be clear when the results of the real poll are announced on Saturday.
But it certainly still feels like it is Catherine Connolly’s to lose. In a matter of hours, we will know for sure.
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