Presidential Election 2025

It is turning into a complete sh*t show for FG. FF must be happy that Gavin's campaign imploded and people are just talking about FG incompetence.

And Connolly given no right of reply.

Poor balance and even poorer journalism.

You can point to the messanger, and state that its imporatant, and i dont disagree. But for me its a secondary consideration to the topic being discussed. And its in stark contrast to some of the other topics that people have viewed as smears. I freely admit that Ivan Yates put the whole thing into overdrive, with his 'interjection'.

Connolly's position on the EU is relevent, as to how it relates to her campaigning record during EU referendums. It also relates to her opinions on Ukraine, Germany, and the EU as a whole. This is, IMHO, not a smear, its fair game.

Likewise, her judgement over the Eirigi fiasco, and how she handled this topic in the election, relates to her judgement, and is therefore relevant. We can and should discuss it, and therefore IMHO, it is also fair game, and not a smear.

Now people can have opinions on the above, and say, for example; They disagree with me, and view her EU positions as prudent. They could also attack the Eirigi situation, and claim that it has no impact on their opinion of CC, or her judgement. These are valid positions to have, 100%. But i dont think the above can be referred to as smears, and there are other examples i could offer.

However, whether or not CC represented banks in repossessions, is no business of anyones. She represented clients, and i'll channel my inner Roy Keane here; thats her job, she did her job. Period. This topic has no place in the election, and the fact it is being raised, is comical. It reeks of desperation, and its going to backfire. Certainly it will not sway anyone away from Connolly, and will more likely weaken an already lacklustre Humphreys Campaign. - this topic is a smear - 100%

I dont care if Connolly took part in 5 repossessions a week during the financial crash - it is not a consideration for me, or anyone IMHO. And its a mistake to bring this into the election.

Im sorry but i still have to frame this story as a smear. She had a job and she did it. Ultimately the government, through their economic policy, are culpable for the harm they caused during the financial crisis. The government, and the banks. Im over simplifying here, because i dont want to reprosecute the financial crisis and government policy throughout the period.

Holding CC responsible would be like blaming members of the Gardai for having to execute eviction orders. They arent responsible for anything other than doing their jobs, to the best of their ability. Barristers have to represent their clients. Its how the game works, and honestly i cant criticize CC for it.

I have to maintain my position of offering justifiable criticisms of the candidates. I have done so for weeks, particularly toward Catherine Connolly. On foreign policy, and on her judgement during the Eirigi fiasco, iv been highly critical. I have done my best to highlight the poor state of her foreign policy in particular, as its a topic which i have studied. And i feel it prudent to discuss her positions as being poorly framed, on the EU, Ukraine, Russia, the US - iv attacked her positioning on the Syria trip too - All of this is justifiable, and i stand by it.

I cant criticize a barrister, for being a barrister. Its not warranted, or justifiable. I hope im being clear, and obviously it does nothing to alter my general opinion on CC.

I’d reached that conclusion 2 weeks ago. I would not normally vote for CC but there’s no way I’d vote for HH in this election.
At one point I had made up my mind not to vote but now I’m voting on an anti FFG basis

Don't think that Yates is advising them. He's quite smart. These people are not. They were the people who replaced Enda Kenny with Varadkar (led FG to one of its worst GE losses ever) and Varadkar with Harris (Kanturk incident, lying to families of children awaiting surgery, National Childrens Hospital).These were the people who took FG from 76 seats and near majority to just 38 seats and third place behind SF for two GEs in a row. Replacing McGuinness with Humphreys was just another nail in the coffin of FG as a major political party. And FF will keep taking FG's support and seats while these people continue destroying FG.

Her opponent partnered FF, the party that caused the housing crisis in government and then remarkably made said crisis worse - the children in hotel rooms have HH and her like to blame for their problems......but look over there it's CC....Blanch your desperation is increasingly laughable.

As I mentioned previously, I wonder is Phil Hogan advising.

It was reported that he was advising Simon Harris before he became Taoiseach and was reported that he was also advising them for the last general election.

In my opinion, Hogan shouldn't be anywhere near the Dáil and if his advice was to go on the attack then he might not be around much longer...

Jesus, with all these attacks, I might change my vote from JG to CC, or at least give a second preference to CC.

HH attacked on CC for doing her job as a barrister!?

How many people suffered due to HH's government policies, while she was in power!!

I mean, we are in the midst of a rent and housing crisis FFS.

Was HH giving out free money from the CU, God bless her, or was she charging interest?

I won't even get into - the "Other" Candidate is far left… too…. well, you better ask her…But her friends……

(I'm not left either, probably centre/left)

And then we have Me-Martin, with voting against EU referendums, etc. and anti-EU crap.

Firstly, while I'm pro-EU, not being pro-EU is not necessarily bad, is it?

Are we supposed to vote in EU referenda without question? I voted against for the first Nice and yes for the second modified/clarified version. Is this not democracy? Are FF against this? Does voting no in a treaty prohibit you from Future participation in life!!

I was scrolling through twitter earlier today. Heather Humphrey's social media game (or at least twitter) is shocking. It's just posts of random FG and FFers who gave announced they are supporting her. Literally nothing there would make you want to consider voting for her if you weren't already in her camp like...