Letters to the Editor: Catherine Connolly could be contentious

'Ireland has become accustomed to a perpetual stability in ongoing relationships between the president and the government, to an extent that this is practically taken for granted nowadays'

Presidential candidate Catherine Connolly. Picture: Sasko Lazarov

Presidential candidate Catherine Connolly as an opposition Independent TD has regularly clashed sharply on matters of policy with the centrist governments that have held office since she has been first elected to the Dáil. 

As such, if she were to be elected president later this month, Ireland could arguably be on the potential cusp of witnessing the most significant extent of palpable tensions between its head of state and its serving government since the days of the incongruent atmosphere that persisted between former president Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh and the government led by former taoiseach Liam Cosgrave in the 1970s.