Presidential Election 2025

A personal belief is not a conflict of interest though, what would the conflict be?

Legal work? If so, potentially. Would depend on what the case was and if the same bank was involved maybe. If it was a different bank it's likely ok

https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2025/1017/1539184-presidential-vote-ireland/

Iv always viewed these interjections by Ganley, Gript, and Iona, as juvenile attempts to stay relevant. Certainly the aforementioned groups have benefited from the ongoing fiascos in this Presidential Election cycle. In particular, Gavin dropping out handed them an argument on the lack of choice available to the electorate. But really they remain sore due to Steens inability to get on the ballot. Im thankful that we havent had to listen to a repeating chorus of complaints, that the democratic nomination process is 'undemocratic'. At least if there was one, it faded into background noise.

Now they are trying to gather momentum by asking voters to spoil their votes, write Steen 1, or vote for Jim Gavin in the hopes that he wins and they get a re-run. It lacks credibility, and is disorganized on every level. Writing Steen on the ballot, is simply a spoiled vote, while voting for Gavin will technically be counted. But i doubt Gavin will collect a sufficient number of votes to even warrant a redistribution.

A win for these characters, will be that Steen is mentioned during the count, which may happen. They will then erroneously claim that the Irish people were denied their real preference on election day. And if Gavin does somehow get enough 1st prefs to warrant a second count, they will probably emerge and claim credit for that too.

That is a smackdown in very lawyerly language. It is also from the MoJ and quite an intervention. Martin won't like it.

What exactly is the conflict of interest…That she does not like to see homeless people, and she supports helping the homeless?

Surely this is every barrister out there? and this vague conflict cannot be used as an excuse not to take a case!

Unless the banks need to find some barrister out there, who revels in the idea of making people homeless (Bit of an exaggeration there for effect, I know, but the point still stands)

Also, if this conflict of interest were to affect anyone in any particular bank eviction case, it would be the bank that would suffer, would it not, as she tends to side more with the potential evicted people? (In any case, I'm sure Judges, Barristers and other judicial people can remain somewhat impartial in these cases)

Jim O'Callaghan has a masters degree in law. Not sure if he ever practiced but I imagine it would have been very difficult for him to stay silent on this matter. I'd also say he's only the first in the long line of former legal professionals turned government TDs to make such a statement

Former legal professionals Paul Murphy and Ivana Bacik have already voiced similar opinions from the opposition benches

This is going to backfire massively in the coming days

Did Martin Ferris get clearance to work in Leinster House?

Its not a valid analogy - Ferris was elected to office. If the Irish Electorate wanted to vote for Eirigi candidates, that is entirely their prerogative.

Connolly signing someone in to Leinster house is entirely her choice, and her judgement, and we are entitled to question this

Jim O'Callaghan has a masters degree in law. Not sure if he ever practiced 

He has represented Gerry Adams, Denis O'Brien and a dictator with a dismal human rights record - Ismael Omar Guellah of Dijibouti.

I think the EU angle is a legitimate line of questioning too.

But Connolly is well able to defend her stance on it.
To want the EU to go in a different direction is not to be anti-EU.

My own opinion is that Connolly has been consistently let 'off the hook' when questioned about the European Union. She tends to respond with statements like 'I am a proud European', or 'I would support a European Union that promotes Freedom and Democracy' (paraphrasing here). She also tends to pivot away from the EU, and back to Palestine, with the usual attack lines, claiming that the EU 'supports the Genocide in Gaza'.

She needs to be plainly asked the following:

• Does she support Irelands continued membership of the EU (this is fairly Black and White, yes or no)
• Does she support the current strands of European Integration and enlargement
• Does she support Ukrainian ambition to join the EU
• Does she support the Pro-EU Left wing parties, in opposition to the Euro-sceptic Leftist alliance, that seek to disable and degrade the Union as a whole.
• Does she still believe that the European Union is comprised of Bullies, as she stated in the wake of Brexit.

We could probably think of more straight-forward questions that one could ask. But i remain convinced that she will evade answering these questions, and merely point to 'increased militarization', and the EU 'standing with War Criminals'.

At best its 'soft euro-scepticism'. At worst its proper Bennism and anti-EU positioning. I remain open to it being the former, although i still dont think I could support that. But we dont know, thanks largely to her evasion on the topic.

Had Steen run, I think it would have been a Connolly-Steen 1,2 with HH a poor third. She should have definitely been on the ballot - a two horse race is absolutely ridiculous in this age of multi parties in the Dáil and coalition governments.

Connolly should simply be asked where / when has she shown that she was a “committed European”.
My mind is going back to Nigel Farage in Brussels taking the piss, with Irish flags and green t-shirt.

To my mind Connolly is just “taking the piss” out of the EU in a much more subtle way than Farage.

You are correct on the questioning but the other problem is the EU, and membership of it - is very complex. An interviewer would need to know their stuff. Unless you get someone from Euronews, the Irish National channels are weak on EU interest or knowledge.