INDEPENDENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE Catherine Connolly has dismissed Fine Gael’s suggestion that she should have declared her work for financial institutions every time she spoke about banks in the Dáil as “the daftest thing” she has “ever heard”. 

Speaking on The Journal‘s political podcast, The Candidate, today, Connolly repeated that she never worked as a barrister while she was a TD. 

At the weekend, Fine Gael released a video which heavily criticised Connolly’s work as a barrister and accused her of hypocrisy for representing banks in home repossession cases during the financial crash.

Last night, Fine Gael TD Barry Ward, who himself is a barrister, told Virgin Media’s Tonight Show that “there is no criticism of Catherine Connolly for the work that she did” as a barrister. 

Instead, he argued that the criticism is over the fact that she “castigated the banks” as a TD and as a councillor without declaring that she represented the banks in certain cases.

“I do think that she should have done so,” Ward said.

Responding to this suggestion today, Connolly said: “That’s the daftest thing I’ve ever heard, really. I mean, I don’t see any connection.” 

Connolly said she ceased working as a barrister in 2016 and has not practised since. 

She said the type of campaigning from Fine Gael during this election has been “appalling”. 

“I don’t think we’ve ever resorted to any nastiness in our campaign, and I’d be horrified if we resorted to nastiness. Am I happy about what they’re saying? Absolutely not, but I’m a strong woman. I’ve stood in elections, but this type [of campaigning] is just appalling,” Connolly said. 

She added that in a personal capacity, she has always gotten on with Heather Humphreys.

Asked about Fine Gael’s attack video last night, Humphreys said:

“Look it, I didn’t put the video together, let’s face it. And the video has gone out there, but it raises legitimate questions”.

She added that she has been on the receiving end of abuse in this campaign, too, from “the far left”. In particular, she said she has received “sectarian abuse” because of her religion and traditions. 

‘I don’t know if she got paid’ 

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters this afternoon in Dublin’s Merrion Square, Heather Humphreys denied that she ever suggested Connolly had “capitalised” on the misfortune of people while a barrister. 

Heather Humphreys quizzed again on her comments suggesting Catherine Connolly has “capitalised” on people’s “misfortune” by representing banks in repossession cases.

She said today that she “doesn’t know” if Catherine got paid or not for her work representing banks. pic.twitter.com/4A7ns4LDqQ

— Jane Matthews (@janeematthews) October 21, 2025

In an interview with the Sunday Independent, Humphreys said the difference between her and Connolly was that:

“I have always tried to help people. I’ve never tried to capitalise on somebody’s misfortune and to make money out of it. And that’s the difference.”

Asked today to clarify if she believes Connolly profited from people’s misfortunes, Humphreys said: 

“I don’t know. Catherine worked for or represented banks to repossess homes, and that’s the fact. I don’t know if she got paid for it or not.” 

When asked if she believes that Connolly did profit from people’s misfortunes if she got paid for her work as a barrister, Humphreys said: “No, I’m not saying that at all. I’m speaking about what I said. I did a lot of voluntary work for people and I never mentioned Catherine’s name in all of that.”

Meanwhile, a number of the regional independent TDs who are supporting the government publicly backed Humphreys again today. 

Encouraging people to vote for Heather Humphreys this afternoon, Michael Healy Rae says he wants someone who is “pleasant” to be president.

Someone who supports “down to earth common sense stuff” such as race-horsing and live exports “not airy-fairy nonsense”, he says. pic.twitter.com/20gu2mO52S

— Jane Matthews (@janeematthews) October 21, 2025

Calling for people to vote for her, TD Michael Healy-Rae said people should vote for Humphreys because she supports “live exports [and] rural pursuits”. 

“Whether that’s greyhounds, whether it’s race-horsing, she’s always been to the fore in all of those issues.

“What I would call fundamental down-to-earth common sense stuff, not airy-fairy nonsense,” he said.

Asked if he was suggesting Connolly supports “airy-fairy nonsense”, Healy-Rae said:

“Oh, absolutely not. Did I mention anybody?”