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OUR REMAINING PRESIDENTIAL candidates hit the campaign trail this week up and down the country visiting schools, shopping centres and community centres in an effort to drum up support and momentum as we enter the final fortnight.
The Journal tagged along to some of these events and witnessed flashes of genuine connection and moments of genuine awkwardness as Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys and Independent TD Catherine Connolly sought to win over voters.
At the start of the week both campaigns were adjusting to the news that Jim Gavin was officially out of the race (due to owing a former tenant €3k+ for the past 16 years, if you’ve somehow managed to avoid hearing about it).
On Monday, Camp Connolly was brimming with confidence as they visited various community spots in Tallaght and why wouldn’t they be.
It’s been widely agreed that Connolly won the first TV debate and she topped the Sunday Independent’s opinion poll (which put her at 32%, while Humphreys came in at 23%, and Gavin at 15%).
But would the sudden departure of the Fianna Fáil candidate hurt her campaign now that voters are facing a choice between one Government and one opposition candidate?
“I wish the family the best, they made the decision that was right for him and the family, and it’s difficult, and the circumstances were very difficult for the tenant,” she told reporters on Monday morning outside of the Aon Scéal Cafe in Tallaght.
When asked if she thought Gavin being gone would hurt her campaign, she was direct in asking Fianna Fáil voters to back her instead of Humphreys.
“I will be a voice for peace, a voice to reflect positive neutrality, and a voice that articulates the existential threat of climate change,” she said.
No one could accuse Connolly of flip-flopping on what her opinions are.
At an event at the Firhouse Community Centre later that day she spoke about how Ireland needs a “thriving economy” rather than a growing one, and on the pitfalls of neoliberalism.
The people from the area who came to see her speak wanted to talk about traffic, housing and how young people can have a voice in politics.
They seemed satisfied with the answers Connolly gave (‘We need more public housing’ was her general response) but there was one tricky moment when a Tallaght woman said that she increasingly feels that people aren’t being listened to by the Irish political system, and she struggled to see how the election of a new President would change that.
Connolly was a little stumped, but went to chat to the woman one-on-one afterwards.
People who chatted to The Journal out and about during Connolly’s campaigning in Tallaght, in the main, said that they were voting for her for reasons related to her personality and her identity.
Bronagh, the manager of the Aon Scéal café, said, “It was great to have her in. Of course she’s getting my vote, but there’s not much variety to vote for, is there really? I’m not really into politics myself, but she speaks Irish which is important and a big thing for me. She seems like a lovely woman and she actually spent time with the people in the cafe.”
In the Priory Market, also in Tallaght, quite a few people had ventured out for the evening to meet Connolly.
David Larkin, an older gentleman from the area, said he made the trip out to the food market especially to meet “our future President of Ireland”.
“When you look back at her track record in the Dáil, she speaks up for the ordinary working man and woman, she highlighted a lot of things like the homelessness crisis, the hospital crisis, the mental health crisis, the list is endless,” he said.
An 8-year-old boy called Samuel made the trip to the market with his mum, Geovanne, because he had seen a video of Connolly doing keepie uppies, and he wanted to get a chance to see her footy skills in real life.
“It’s his first Presidential election and he’s been taking an interest in the posters around, and then the videos of Connolly doing sports, and I just thought, wouldn’t that be great, to get a chance to see the next President of Ireland before they get elected?” his mum said.
Upstairs in the market, Connolly’s supporting politicians urged members of the audience to go out leafleting for the campaign.
Connolly rambled slightly at the opening of her speech, travelling to a slightly odd tangent about journalists asking questions:
“After the debate the other night, on Monday night, we came straight down at twenty past eleven to 10 or 12 cameramen and journalists asking questions at twenty past eleven, and similarly on Sunday after the debate we came out to more journalists asking more questions,” she said.
“That’s as it should be, but it’s just to explain why I might run out of words, so I go back to my core: ‘Why are we here? What has happened to our country that we look on 16,000 homeless as collateral damage,” she went on to say.
Connolly then spoke about how she doesn’t enjoy being in the spotlight, but that she sees herself as merely a symbol of a movement that is seeking change in this country.
Her campaign team said that they were feeling confident but also aware that this is not the time for complacency.
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy, chatting to The Journal on the campaign trail in Tallaght, said that the challenge is to ensure that there is a “high turnout in working class areas”.
“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael would like it if people stay at home. But I think with Jim Gavin going, that will help the turnout, I think the whole thing is now very clear, there’s a Government candidate, there’s an anti-Government candidate.”
People Before Profit and the other left-wing parties supporting Connolly have been highly active online when it comes to getting out her message and sharing clips of her playing football, basketball, and camogie.
Many voters who The Journal spoke to throughout the week brought up the clips of Connolly playing basketball. For those less engaged in the election, it was a moment that broke through because it made their social media timelines.
Some Fine Gael members were markedly worried about how the Connolly campaign’s social media presence is impacting the narrative of the election.
One representative of the party said that Connolly is being helped by how the various political parties supporting her are running extensive social media operations.
“The sports stuff, I think, has really helped her. People pay attention to that kind of thing, and then some people supporting her don’t even seem to know what her views are, which, in my view, are in some cases quite extreme,” they said.
She might pinch your ball or hop on your bike, but she’ll also speak out when required.
— Connolly for President (@catherinegalway) October 9, 2025
There has never been a more important time to elect a President who will be independent of Government.
Vótáil Catherine Connolly #1 pic.twitter.com/9bGwdLTsKJ
Another longtime party member voiced their concern that despite there being multiple controversies attached to Connolly “none of them appear to be sticking”.
Heather Humphreys has been out and about in Dublin city centre meeting volunteers and workers this week, including on Wednesday she visited an inner city Dublin Fire Brigade station.
(She emphasised that she wasn’t seeking an endorsement from firefighters whilst there, but instead wanted to chat about the work they do and the issues they face).
Speaking to the press she kicked things off by acknowledging that a lot of people will “want to know what my views are”.
“I want to be a President that unifies, that brings people together. We see division in our society and I want to help heal those divisions… I spent a great day on Monday in Northern Ireland, and while we have peace in Northern Ireland, there is still division there, and I would like to build on the work of Mary McAleese,” she elaborated.
Initially, reporters had been told Humphreys wouldn’t be speaking to the media but she made a beeline over to where reporters were standing as soon as she spotted them.
She later visited An Síol, a community development project in Stoneybatter.
She told the staff that in her time as a Minister one of her office’s had a lock on it and she requested for it to be removed: “I have an open door policy, and it will be the same in the Áras, my door will be open to you,” she told them, which was well received.
Marie Harding, a community development worker with the project, told The Journal afterwards that they are an under-resourced service that is struggling to cater to the demand for their meal delivery service for older people, and their groups for children who don’t get access to out-of-school social activities.
Harding and the other staff also noted that there was little in this week’s budget that would ease those pressures.
On Thursday, Humphreys was out chatting to workers at the food market on the Mespil Road by the Grand Canal.
She arrived to applause from Fine Gael members but plenty of other members of the public were happy to chat to her and wish her luck on her campaign. However, there were some notably uncomfortable moments where Humphreys appeared to struggle to make conversation.
(When a group of workers from Amazon bounded over to introduce themselves, she didn’t really have follow-up questions for them, and when a stall owner offered to whip her up a bit of food, she explained that she didn’t really have the time).
The market was crowded, in fairness, and once she’d the media obligations out of the way Humphreys had time to chat to a young real estate agent who was concerned about apprenticeship pathways, to which she cited her actions as a Minister, and for a warm chat with a couple who had recently become parents.
Generally, people were happy to meet her and wished her luck.
Speaking to the media at the market, Humphreys appeared to have renewed energy.
When she was asked if she is worried about her campaign suffering from a lack of momentum, she batted the notion away:
“I’m happy that I’m getting out and about, I’m meeting people, telling them how I want to be a President that unites people,” she said.
She also made some of the most vociferous attacks on Connolly that she’s made to-date in the race.
When asked for her response to Connolly saying that she would have to think about whether she would hire someone with a prior conviction for rape, and whether it is something she would have to think about, Humphreys was definitive:
“Absolutely not. I was quite shocked to hear that response. I just wonder what any woman in this country would think or what she would feel if she had been a victim of rape, if they thought someone who was a convicted rapist could be employed in Áras an Uachtaráin by the next President of Ireland,” she said.
Heather Humphrey’s slams Catherine Connolly for saying she would have to think about whether she’d hire someone who was convicted for rape, and says that victims need to be thought about. pic.twitter.com/wsvPok57Zx
— Eimer McAuley (@eimer_mcauley) October 9, 2025
Some have pointed out that this hypothetical line of questioning being put to both candidates about whether they would hire a rapist is a reductive way to engage with the issue of rehabilitation through the justice system, and also the issue of rape itself.
The candidates on Friday then had to deal with the fallout from broadcaster Joe Brolly pretending to be a presidential candidate answering questions while mimicking oral sex on his podcast.
Humphreys came out strongly on the issue, and condemned Brolly’s behaviour as “misogynistic” and “targeted at women”.
“And I can tell you now I will not accept that. Many women across this country have been targeted like that, but I will stand up for the women of Ireland.
“And I can tell you one thing, it won’t knock me back,” she further said.
At the food market this week, two young female tech workers said that they were considering voting for Humphreys because she has been a woman working at the top level of Government for a long time.
“She seems to be a genuinely nice woman and someone who has integrity, but I haven’t made my mind up yet,” one said.
There were plenty of undecided voters on the campaign trail this week, and many who said that they still needed to properly tune into the race.
We’re yet to see how Jim Gavin’s departure will influence support for the two women in the running to be President, but Humphreys will be hoping that her lines of attack will land, and that an influx of support from Fianna Fáil voters is on the way.
The Taoiseach yesterday said that Humphreys has his vote – it’s hard to see that swinging the momentum her way considering the week he’s had.
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