Five weeks to go and the presidential election campaign is swinging into gear. Declared candidates are well and truly on the campaign trail. Others are either scrambling furiously for a nomination or – in Sinn Féin’s case – have just decided on who to back, Catherine Connolly. Either way, the list of candidates will be finalised by Wednesday, September 24th.
Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys launched her campaign last weekend in Monaghan in a packed room full of enthusiastic supporters, Ministers and TDs. “We love you and we’ve got your back,” party leader Simon Harris told the candidate, to raucous cheers.
Her many qualities were highlighted by a range of high-profile supporters: Heather the mother and grandmother; Heather the farmer; Heather the hard-working constituency TD and impactful Minister; Heather the borderland Protestant who can reach out to unionists in Northern Ireland.
Of course, the challenge for Heather the candidate is to appeal beyond Fine Gael voters into the wider centrist constituency. And the enthusiasm of Fine Gaelers has not always provided a reliable guide to success in that field.
Still, she was enthusiastically received at the National Ploughing Championships this week – though everyone is received enthusiastically at the ploughing. Polls published so far suggest Humphreys is the front-runner – but there’s not much in it and, anyway, polls mean little beyond voter recognition at this stage of the race.
With crowds of up to 300,000 milling around over the week, she wasn’t the only candidate at the ploughing. She had a warm encounter with the Fianna Fáil candidate Jim Gavin and the interplay between their campaigns will be closely watched. Each knows that their path to the presidency runs through the other. If Humphreys wins it will be with the assistance of Gavin’s transfers, and vice versa.
So in many ways, theirs could be the key battle of the entire campaign – who can get ahead of the other to stay in the race and benefit from the transfers? But it will be a polite battle, because they can’t risk alienating the other’s voters.
[ Gareth Sheridan’s presidential prospects dealt a blow in CarlowOpens in new window ]
Gavin faced teasing about a video clip he posted which trumpeted his farming credentials – critics pointed out he was wearing white trousers (unusual on a farm, sources say) and failed to fully close a gate behind him, a mortal sin where livestock are present.
I’m standing for the Presidency because I believe in our country and I believe in the incredibly positive role which the President plays.
I’m going to travel to every part of our country bringing a positive message of a President defined by service and leadership. pic.twitter.com/xbFzmNpHXX
— Jim Gavin For President (@gavinforthearas) September 14, 2025
He laughed it off. The big question about Gavin – does he fly as a candidate? – remains unanswered.
Humphreys dismissed with a “so-what?” shrug reports that her husband had been a member of the Orange Order 50 years ago, though the Daily Mail’s questions to her at the campaign launch last Saturday do appear to have caused an initial, mild panic in Fine Gael. Confronted by the Man from the Daily Mail, Eric Humphreys wisely took refuge in a toilet and closed the door.
So far, all the declared candidates have emerged intact from their initial bouts of interrogation by the media, though Catherine Connolly has bristled at some of the questioning. In truth, the encounters were neither especially intense nor hostile. They can be expected to get a bit more difficult as the campaign progresses.
But they did point at one important lesson: for the candidates it’s often more important how they deal with the story rather than what the content of the story is. A lot of the things that will be thrown at the candidates in the coming weeks will be pretty inconsequential. Do people really care that Heather Humphreys’s husband was in the Orange Order 50 years ago? Or that Jim Gavin didn’t properly close a gate behind him on a farm? Probably not. What matters is how they deal with the issue under pressure. Can they get past it? Often that’s a presidential campaign comes down to.
Connolly’s campaign has been more conspicuously active on the ground in recent weeks, holding canvasses and attending events. In the last two weeks she has been campaigning in Galway, Laois, Donegal, Cork, Dublin, Offaly and Carlow. She was, reports one observer, rapturously received at a pro-Palestine event in Cork but an unremarkable speech produced only polite applause. All the candidates will have to learn how to pace themselves.
It’s crunch time for the independent candidates. Gareth Sheridan secured the backing of two local authorities and he needs two more, from four remaining chances. His hopes hang in the balance.
Maria Steen’s chances look flimsier. Peadar Tóibín of Aontú – who has leveraged the process skilfully to ensure maximum prominence for himself and his party – claims he has up to 13 nominations for Steen in the Oireachtas. If he can get to 16, Independent Ireland says it will supply the additional four needed. But if could get the votes needed, he’d probably have them by now. It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that Steen – and Aontú – started all this a few months too late.
Mary Lou McDonald said on Thursday that the party’s decision this weekend would be a “game-changer”. On Friday, there had been an expectation among many – but no certainty – that Sinn Féin was gearing up to back Connolly. The decision on Saturday to support her is certainly a massive boost to her campaign – but also an unusual admission of political weakness by the party.