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LAST UPDATE | 20 Oct 2025
FINE GAEL HAS come in for a battering today as the party faces criticism for its attack on presidential candidate Catherine Connolly’s previous work as a barrister.
Its candidate Heather Humphreys has focused in on juxtaposing her career as a Credit Union manager with Connolly’s work as a barrister during the economic crash.
Speaking to the Sunday Independent, Humphreys said she worked as a credit union manager before getting into politics and alluded to Connolly representing banks in home repossession cases during the crash.
“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 – and I have a very, very clear record on that,” she said.
This was followed by a video shared online by Fine Gael entitled ‘Catherine Connolly’s hypocrisy’, during which a voiceover highlights the party’s questions over the presidential frontrunner’s previous career.
The video, which lasts for nearly three minutes, includes footage of Connolly’s previous Dáil contributions on housing and the banks along with clips of money and housing estates.
Speaking to reporters in Galway yesterday, Connolly said: “The campaign has reached a new low by Fine Gael. Absolutely a new low.
Catherine Connolly's hypocrisy. pic.twitter.com/46ZE30e6eY
— Fine Gael (@FineGael) October 19, 2025
“I have addressed this over and over again and for the candidate for the presidency to misuse that in the way that she has is just a new low. It’s just a new low.”
Humphreys doubled-down on her line of attack this morning.
Speaking on this morning’s Joe Finnegan Show on Shannonside Northern Sound, Humphreys said:
“I worked in a Credit Union during the financial crisis,” said Humphreys. “I chose to work there, I helped people, and it was not easy.”
She said people who lost their jobs “sat in front of my desk and cried”.
“I saw those people, I saw their faces, and I saw what it was like for them when they thought they were going to lose their house,” said Humphreys.
Heather Humphreys was asked about comments she had not made ‘money out of’ other’s misfortune, and whether the same applies to barristers in FG. She said barristers have a job to do and she respects that. She argued the point she’s making is clear: pic.twitter.com/YZANrNUbOu
— Christina Finn (@christinafinn8) October 20, 2025
“I am not attacking Catherine’s work as a barrister, I’m highlighting her hypocrisy as a politician.
“She criticised the same banks that she repossessed homes for.
“I’m pointing out the hypocrisy of working for the banks in the courts to repossess houses and saying something different in the council chamber in Galway or in the Dáil chamber.”
On the campaign trail in Gorey today, Humphreys was grilled further on the matter by reporters. Standing outside the local credit union branch, she said:
“She absolutely castigated the banks, and she talked about them evicting people, and she was the very same person that was working for those banks at that time, helping people to be evicted out of their houses. That is what I call double standards.”
When it was put to her that Connolly was not working for the banks when she spoke about repossessions in the Dáil, Humphreys said:
“I didn’t [say that]. I said she made the comment. Sorry. Well, look, I don’t know whether she was working for the banks or not, but she should have declared that she represented banks, she should have declared it that she actually worked for banks to repossess houses.”
The Journal has spoken to those in Fine Gael who work in the legal profession who has said the party has made “a balls of it” with the video about Connolly’s work as a barrister and questioned whether Humphreys had an understanding of how the system worked.
They said they agree with Humphreys that Connolly should have been more transparent about the work she did with the banks when she was addressing the Dáil.
Fine Gael TD Barry Ward, a senior counselor for nearly 20 years, criticised Connolly for not declaring her work for banks while making strong statements against them in the Dáil.
He told RTÉ’s Drivetime programme that he often declares any interests in the Dáil relating to cases he has represented.
He told The Journal today that he has not represented the banks during his career, but said that the ‘cab-rank rule’ is an ethical obligation on barristers, which requires them to take whatever case they are asked to take, irrespective of their own personal or moral qualms, with some exceptions.
He said it would be grossly unfair if one party to a case couldn’t get representation because they were unpopular, politically incorrect or out of favour.
“The rule ensures that, even people who are accused of heinous crimes, or are looking to achieve something unpalatable (but lawful), will still be able to obtain representation,” he said, adding that he has never never criticised Connolly, or any barrister, for their work choice.
Asked about comments she made at the weekend that Connolly had not made “money out of” others misfortune, Humphreys was asked if the same applied to barristers in Fine Gael.
She said: “I was speaking for myself when I said that, I have never tried to benefit from people who have been in difficult situations.
“Barristers have a job to do. I respect them. Absolutely respect them. They play a hugely important role. Lawyers play a huge part of our system. It’s part of our legal system.
“The point I am making is, how can you stand up and give out and criticise and castigate banks, and at the same time you’re working for them to repossess houses?”
Asked whether she declared her status as credit union manager when speaking in the Dail about mortgage repossessions or the tracker mortgage scandal, she said: “I never stood up in the Dáil and spoke about any of those things, I can assure you.”
The Fine Gael video has been criticised by a number of opposition TDs on social media, with Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore likening it to “the Trump playbook”.
In a statement, Labour leader Ivana Bacik said that as a public representative who practiced as a barrister, she was “outraged” by the video.
“Fine Gael should know better,” Bacik said.
“This attack video is not only a new political low – a new level of ‘nasty’ in this presidential campaign. It also represents a craven and dangerous attack on a fundamental principle of the rule of law in our democratic system.”
Both Connolly and the Bar Council of Ireland have repeatedly highlighted the cab-rank rule.
Barristers operate under the rule which means they are precluded from refusing instructions on the ground that the nature of the case, or the conduct, opinions or beliefs of a client may be unacceptable to themselves.
The Bar Council said this rule is “central to trust in the Irish legal system and the rule of law”.
Speaking today, Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan similarly defended the profession. A barrister himself, O’Callaghan was once Gerry Adams’s legal representative.
“Just because a lawyer takes on a case for a client doesn’t mean that the lawyer is endorsing the behaviour or opinions of that client – they’re simply providing legal services to the client,” he said.
Adding that he wouldn’t be wading into discussion on the presidential election, he said, “can I say, however, I ‘ve noticed in recent years, from all sides of the political spectrum, criticism being directed at lawyers because of the clients who they represent.
“I don’t think it’s correct or fair to criticise lawyers because of the actions of their clients,” he said.
However, Fine Gael Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, who is also a qualified barrister, said Connolly should have been more “transparent” in her Dáil contributions on her previous line of work.
“The issue here is not the work of a barrister – it is right and proper that everyone should be afforded representation,” Carroll MacNeill said.
“Why did she not disclose it?
She said that the cab rank rule allows barristers to refuse work if there is a conflict of interest – “so how did Catherine Connolly’s public statements align with her professional work, which she clearly chose to accept as is her complete right?
Sinn Féin’s justice spokesperson Matt Carthy said he welcomed O’Callaghan’s comments defending the legal profession today.
“The attacks on the legal profession from Fine Gael have gone too far. It risks damaging our judicial system,” he said. “It is time for the party to clarify if they support the right of those before courts to legal representation which is crucial to upholding the right to a fair trial.”
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland this morning, James McDermott BL said it’s the duty of a barrister to accept instructions in their area of practice.
“In the same way, at the end of a Saturday night when you want a taxi home, the taxi driver has to take the first person in the queue. They can’t say ‘The fourth person in the queue has a longer fare, I’ll earn more money out of that’,” the barrister said.
Barristers should not be identified with their clients or suffer adverse consequences as a result of being so identified, and the Bar Council made that very clear in their recent statement.
Asked about Humphrey’s comments in the Sunday Independent, McDermott said he believed it was an “unfair criticism”.
“If you practice in criminal law on the defence side, you might have to defend a bank robber or somebody who’s allegedly committed an assault. If you do that in your professional practice, you wouldn’t accuse the barrister of somehow being sympathetic to bank robbers or sympathetic to people who go around assaulting people.”
He said barristers “owe a duty of confidentiality to their clients” and don’t talk about their own cases, adding that it was “unfortunate” that the matter was being focused on in the campaign.
“I think it’s important for the country that everybody who is involved in litigation has access to a lawyer, and that lawyers aren’t picking and choosing cases on the basis that they’re sympathetic to a particular position.”
Additional reporting by Emma Hickey and Christina Finn
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