Presidential Election 2025

[Gatsbygirl]

Heather very "graciously" conceding defeat, wishing Catherine good luck, giving CC her full support "Catherine will be a President for all the people. She will be my President"

HH however did reference the sectarian abuse her family were subjected to. She thought we "had moved beyond this"

No doubt if HH was far ahead in the polls, this abuse would have been stepped up.

Anyway, it's done and dusted

I enjoyed this thread. Not much traffic on the thread, but enjoyable discussion

[Carlovian]

Sad to see. A tankie in the Aras. This woman could do untold damage to our country.

That’s our President you are insulting.

Dry your eyes lad.

Connolly was the best candidate by a mile and all the FG smears only made her more popular.

Great campaign from Connolly but a nasty one from FG being a low point.

[PogMoThoin22]

Heather very "graciously" conceding defeat, wishing Catherine good luck, giving CC her full support "Catherine will be a President for all the people. She will be my President"

HH however did reference the sectarian abuse her family were subjected to. She thought we "had moved beyond this"

No doubt if HH was far ahead in the polls, this abuse would have been stepped up.

Anyway, it's done and dusted

I enjoyed this thread. Not much traffic on the thread, but enjoyable discussion

Hopefully she'll crawl back under whatever rock she was hiding under. How she or anyone in FG ever thought people would like her! Terrible candidate, very poor speaker, and an orange woman, the Aras is no place for an orange woman!

FG really fucked things up not going for Sean Kelly who would have romped home in this poor race. I don't like him, but he would be bearable.

[Brabantje]

If you haven't some form of "negative campaigning" you would have no campaign at all

Everyone being "gracious" and agreeing with each other, everyone blathering about being a voice for the Irish people and being a president for all the people, blah-de-blah....That won't get you through a 6 week campaign

Where you have a contest, you will have friction. Otherwise you have no contest

Some will call this friction a "smear". Others will call it "holding a politician to account"

It is easy to be positive and gracious when you are miles ahead in the polls. In fact, that is your best tactic. Stay quiet, remain "gracious", hope to spin out the weeks of campaigning without a serious implosion.

But when you are miles behind in the race, you have to go into attack mode, and hope that you land a punch

It is not the negative campaign itself that was the problem, it was FG's ham-fisted deployment of it

They went after CC on the wrong issues (the barrister thing) instead of calmly, politely and forensically smoking her out on the serious stuff she was dodging.

It is hilarious to see opposition parties whining about "smears" and "negativity". SF's entire schtick in the Dail is harping on endlessly in total attack mode, Pearse Doherty being the very embodiment of "negativity". Any mud they can throw will be thrown.

Their supporters all over social media were "smearing" Mairead McGuinness for "drowning babies" before the campaign even started.

One of RTEs panellists summed it up. Negative campaigning only works in a tight race as it will only gain you small movements.

[Irish History]

Heather very "graciously" conceding defeat, wishing Catherine good luck, giving CC her full support "Catherine will be a President for all the people. She will be my President"

HH however did reference the sectarian abuse her family were subjected to. She thought we "had moved beyond this"

No doubt if HH was far ahead in the polls, this abuse would have been stepped up.

Anyway, it's done and dusted

I enjoyed this thread. Not much traffic on the thread, but enjoyable discussion

I wouldn't have minded if she won, given that she said she would encourage the reunification of our country.

I was also disappointed that according to her, she and her family suffered sectarian abuse - although I have not seen or read anything that suggests she/they did.

What was the actual sectarian abuse - does anyone know?

[midlander12]

Negative campaigning (1926-2025) died after a short illness. Houses strictly private. Donations in lieu of flowers to "the gaping hole in FF finances, 65-66 Mount Street Lower, Dublin"

They'd better hurry up with the donations because this will definitely be a case 'and on the third day it rose again'.

[midlander12]

Goes against the grain for me but I'm actually glad to see the number of spoiled votes - so far 111,000 out of 820,000. I ended up not voting as I had to go unexpectedly to Galway (where they were taking down HH posters at 6pm) and didn't get back till late. However I have to say it didn't cost me a thought (unlike it would in other elections). A terrible election, a terrible 'choice', and a deservedly apathetic and negative response from the electorate. Even Fintan thinks CC's is a hollow crown (behind paywall, but the headline speaks for itself).

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025 ... low-crown/

[Carlovian]

FG really fucked things up not going for Sean Kelly who would have romped home in this poor race. I don't like him, but he would be bearable.

FG replace boring out of touch woman with boring out of touch man ?

There would have been no change to the result as Connolly outlined a vision for the Presidency while FG were just not Connolly.

Connolly on course for the highest Presidential vote in history.

I may have mentioned that she would win on Politics.ie when she was 8-1. But todays not all about me but about Catherine Connolly.

And let’s not forget Alan Kelly, Jennifer Carroll Mc Neill, John Lee, Ivan Yates, Fionnan Sheehan and Alison OConnor who all helped Connollys campaign secure this incredible victory.

[Bubblypop]

FG replace boring out of touch woman with boring out of touch man ?

There would have been no change to the result as Connolly outlined a vision for the Presidency while FG were just not Connolly.

Connolly on course for the highest Presidential vote in history.

I may have mentioned that she would win on Politics.ie when she was 8-1. But todays not all about me but about Catherine Connolly.

And let’s not forget Alan Kelly, Jennifer Carroll Mc Neill, John Lee, Ivan Yates, Fionnan Sheehan and Alison OConnor who all helped Connollys campaign secure this incredible victory.

Is it really the highest presidential vote in history?

[Brabantje]

They'd better hurry up with the donations because this will definitely be a case 'and on the third day it rose again'.

Yes, cockroahes and FF will survive the apocalypse.

[p.ie man]

It's said when Napoleon was choosing new generals, he would always ask, "but is he lucky"?

It must be said Ms Connolly proved to be very lucky in this campaign. Towards the end, she seemed to be floating on a cushion of air, unflappable and the opposition unable to land a glove on her.

[Brabantje]

Is it really the highest presidential vote in history?

Percentage wise, yes. No idea in terms of raw numbers yet.

[midlander12]

Yes, cockroahes and FF will survive the apocalypse.

Hmm, they won't be alone.

[ceannairceach]

Corbyn in a dress is #NOYMYPRESIDENT

[Socthesecond]

Corbyn in a dress is #NOYMYPRESIDENT

Ate you heading off?

[ceannairceach]

Ate you heading off?

Why the fck should I ?

[Brabantje]

Looks like turnout was up slightly on 2018.

[Clanrickard]

That’s our President you are insulting.

Dry your eyes lad.

Connolly was the best candidate by a mile and all the FG smears only made her more popular.

Great campaign from Connolly but a nasty one from FG being a low point.

There were two poor candidates. Her comments during the campaign were poorly judged. The German ambassador had to write a letter to refute her stupid comments.

[Clanrickard]

FG replace boring out of touch woman with boring out of touch man ?

There would have been no change to the result as Connolly outlined a vision for the Presidency while FG were just not Connolly.

Connolly on course for the highest Presidential vote in history.

I may have mentioned that she would win on Politics.ie when she was 8-1. But todays not all about me but about Catherine Connolly.

And let’s not forget Alan Kelly, Jennifer Carroll Mc Neill, John Lee, Ivan Yates, Fionnan Sheehan and Alison OConnor who all helped Connollys campaign secure this incredible victory.

Mairead M Guinness would have won. As would Stein. As would Kelliher. A very lucky tankie this evening.

[Socthesecond]

Why the fck should I ?

Just curious if you're hanging on here CC is the prez.

[Gatsbygirl]

Looks like turnout was up slightly on 2018.

Connolly caught the zeitgeist. Once you do that you are unbeatable. All those young people caught up in the mood....It was indeed a "movement"

Connolly was also very lucky. She had the field to herself. HH and Gavin were perfect foils for her in the early debates. Standing beside those two stumbling stutterers, Connelly seemed to be a model of eloquence and fluency. Once that image took hold, it was hard to dislodge

If she was confronted with Mairead McGuinness--an excellent media performer with a stellar EU CV---Connelly might have looked less presidential and have been forced to defend her historic anti-EU and pro-Brexit arguments.

Then when the field narrowed to just two candidates, and the only person she was up against was poor Heather...well, she was home and hosed. It was relatively easy to look "presidential" beside Heather.

[ceannairceach]

Just curious if you're hanging on here CC is the prez.

Yea with a 22.5% turnout - so no she’s not.

[ceannairceach]

Connolly caught the zeitgeist. Once you do that you are unbeatable. All those young people caught up in the mood....It was indeed a "movement"

Connolly was also very lucky. She had the field to herself. HH and Gavin were perfect foils for her in the early debates. Beside those two stumbling stutterers, Connelly seemed to be a model of eloquence and fluency. Once that image took hold, it was hard to dislodge

If she was confronted with Mairead McGuinness--an excellent media performer with a stellar EU CV---Connelly might have looked less presidential and have been forced to defend her historic anti-EU and pro-Brexit arguments.

Then when the field narrowed to just two candidates, and the only person she was up against was poor Heather...well, she was home and hosed. It was relatively easy to look presidential beside Heather.

The zeitgeist is seriously deluded fcking children .. ffs

[midlander12]

Looks like turnout was up slightly on 2018.

If you include the 12% or so of spoiled votes, yes. Otherwise it's hovering around 40%. Apart from 2018, the only other one coming close on low turnout was 1997 (47%).

[Socthesecond]

Yea with a 22.5% turnout - so no she’s not.

Yawn.