The Presidential Election 2025

[deeahgwitch]

Your thoughts.
i’m in the ABB camp.
I accept he did a great job re The Good Friday Agreement but his government pre the economic crash !!!🙄🥲

"I think that’s not a big challenge to a democracy, to a healthy society"
I think the exact opposite.

Cc seems to be in front in polls. She has cats called Cat1 and Cat2. I realise pet ownership is not a reason to vote for someone. Plus she has said she would only serve one term.
I still prefer Liam Neeson.

I think the majority of the electorate were thinking along the same lines when they rejected the Family Amendment in the referendum, including the erasure of references to women in the Constitution.
CC supported the Amendment. Her recent statements about gender show that she does not have a clear definition of what the word 'woman' means, so its removal from the Constitution was not as big an issue for her as it was for 67% of the electorate.

Remember @eggandonionMichael D also said he’d serve only one term.🙄😡
It’s a cushy number.

Seven years is long enough and possibly too long in my opinion.
Can you imagine Patrick Hillery or any of the other men way back having an opinion on what women are. Or revealing their pets' names.
I still don't want to vote for either candidate.

Yes, I've been wondering whether the seven year stint was part of what put good candidates off. What would be better - three? Five?

We would need a referendum for that.

It would be quite nice to have one on a bland proposal like that.

I think five years would be good. Quinquennial
Three would mean we'd have to go through this mullarkey every three years - and frankly, if it's that hard to find decent candidates after 14 years of the last one, how would we find candidates every three years?😒

Five years seems about right. Time for them to establish themselves in the presidency, but not to stagnate in it.

A straight question would be good . At times I vote on a long sentence and come out wondering if I got it correct!
I could vote for one candidate and dh for the other...but that gives the leading person more support.

I like CC more every time I hear her. She has so much integrity. She’s remained so calm and composed. I think she will be a wonderful president. I don’t think anything could ruffle her feathers.

Yes , it is a pity she is 100% wrong on the gender thing. But then again she won't have any say in it as Uachtarán. Corporate clone Heather probably wouldn't be the worst president either tbh. I suppose we could all vote for Gavin and kick the table over. It would be very exciting. We could end up with some non party winner. Like Enoch Burke perhaps ?

It wouldn't be boring....

No it doesn’t. I was a counter at many elections and referendums and if there is only one mark on the paper next to a candidate then it is is counted that the vote is for the person you put the mark next to. It doesn’t matter of it’s a tick or an x.

I was told the reverse by a county returning officer. X is too ambiguous, it can indicate crossing-out something the crosser-out sees as wrong, and should never be counted as a vote, whether there are other boxes with marks or not. Numbers only. No ticks, no smiley faces, no crosses

If any county IS counting them that should be reported as encouraging false returns (I can't see the tallymen letting it slip past anyway).

is that not just for elections were there are candidates and transfers at play. So you look at numbers.

This won’t be numbers, I assume - it will be like a referendum

This is interesting because it quotes what the candidates actually said about topics, not what somebody else said they said!
Who should you vote for as president? Use this tool to see which candidate matches your views – The Irish Times
I don't think it is behind a paywall, apologies if it is.

Unfortunately, it doesn't ask important questions like : Do you believe that sex is determined by biology and not by individual self-identification?
so CC's pro-gender-ideology isn't made clear.

She gave such waffly answers when direct questions were put to her on sex and gender, that it might not be clear to everyone that she is in favour of the GRA, self-ID, men becoming 'legal women', etc.

There are three candidates. Transfers might be needed - I have not yet heard what the quota is going to be - which is why I'm giving #1 to Gavin. I feel less and less inclined to give even a transfer to either of the other pair.

Thank you. What is Heather Humphrey’s position on trans issues, do you know?

Introduced the Gender Recognition Act as a minister but now she doesn't support the Gender Recognition Act.

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025/10/20/breda-obrien-heres-why-you-should-vote-for-jim-gavin/

Hope it's not behind a pay wall.
If people do decide to give JG no.1, most important thing is NOT to put 2 or 3 as then transfers kick in.

Although it looks like CC is going to romp home, I predict with more than 60% of the vote.

It’s behind a pay wall @TaTuirseOrm
I’ll check it out as I have a subscription. Thanks for the heads up

https://archive.ph/35Bg7

Does this archive link work?
I find them quite hard to read on my phone, but they're helpful when you want to read a particular article behind a pay wall.

Thank you @TaTuirseOrm it was easy to read.

“In my book, a woman is a female adult, and a man is a male adult; that’s my belief, but....."
On LGBTQ+ rights, Humphreys is a 2025 presidential candidate who is cautious in moderation: not hostile, but not particularly radical either.
What Ireland’s 2025 presidential nominees say on LGBTQ+ rights • GCN

Completely off topic, but I have just realised what your username says @deeahgwitch - brilliant name👏🇨🇮 and shame on me for taking so long to cop on 🙈