Catherine Connolly for President

[Abhannmor]

I'm not in Galway where she is an Independent TD. But I have always been struck by her intelligence, eloquence and compassion. Hard working, honest and fluent in Irish too.
No doubt the big parties will wheel out their recycled discredited, burnt out cases. But I hope Sinn Féin , Labour have the decency and political nous not to run against her. Anyway....my tuppence worth!

I agree, Catherine has always carried herself with decency and respect for/towards others but has never been cowed when going up against members of the big parties. I understand the Presidency is not a political role as such but imo we want someone that sees it as a role in serving the people of Ireland in representing us well on the international stage and she's the only name I've heard thrown about as yet that I immediately thought yes that would be an excellent choice

Mairead McGuinness is running too.

Agreed. Catherine Connolly would get my vote.

Tony Holohan's name may be in the mix. His name is being touted and when he was asked he said he could neither confirm nor deny it yet.

Be interesting to see how that goes, he's a v divisive character

He won't get my vote if he goes for it.

TH won’t get my vote either @honeyrider
I feel Catherine Connolly would be better in the Dáil rather than the Áras.
I don’t know enough about Mairéad Mc Guinness.
TBH I’m not sure we need a (very expensive to run) President.
I voted against the continuation of the Seanad.
People who failed to win in a General Election should not be allowed to be then put into the Seanad.
I also think the University seats should be abolished- too elitist. Not democratic.
All these political nominees. Jobs for the boys ( and girls ).

Mairead McGuinness did a good job as vice president of the EU. I'll wait until all the candidates are known before deciding where my vote will go.

McGuinness did well as EU vice president. Admittedly she was helped by the comparison with intellectual pygmies like Nigel Farage. But I'd give her my second preference if it was a case of stopping some chancer like McGregor.

I never vote for less representation and regard the relative pittance Miggledy gets as money well spent. About a third of the budget goes on things like the Presidents Bounty iirc?

I even voted to keep the Seanad though it should be reformed I think. And local councils , though a TD told me they are basically powerless since rates were abolished. I was talking to him about refuse collection at the time. Imagine going to an English MP on such a matter! But we are very over centralised.

DS's girlfriend is German and moved to Dublin in January and she's blown away at how the public have easy access to TDs compared to in Germany.

That's one of the things I really appreciate about Ireland. I lived in England for years and years and never saw a candidate in all that time, because I lived in a 'safe seat' constituency.

So no matter who they represent, even the headbangers😄I always thank candidates who call to my door during an election campaign - I'll give them an earful or ask them hard questions afterwards, but I always start by acknowledging that I have access to them and they put themselves out there to meet the electorate.

I know C. Connolly is an Irish speaker, but I hope all the other would-be Uachtaráin have gone to the trouble of learning enough Gaeilge to be able to function ceremonially in the first national language. Being the First Citizen and not being able to at least make prepared speeches in the first nation language would be daft.

Agree @MarieDeGournay . And I can actually understand Catherine when she speaks as Gaeilge - mostly. Agus níl mórán Gaeilge agam! Was she a teacher I wonder. Some announcers on TG4 or RnaG seem to make a virtue of speaking very quickly.

It was beyond cringe when Bertie had to have his little oath written in English phonetics when he was inaugurated as Taoiseach. Iss Misha Bairtie. Will he make a run I wonder? Flatley , that's a nope. Though he might suck away the oxygen from the far right pyromaniacs?

Great result!

I think so. Go néirí leat a Catherine. ☘️