![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2.81592691.jpg\" "\\"Irish")
Fine Gael presidential candidate Heather Humphreys with family members at the launch event (Fergal Phillips\/PA)<\/p>\nIrish presidential hopeful Heather Humphreys has said she attended Orange Order parades as a child but stopped going when the Troubles broke out.<\/p>\n
The Fine Gael candidate, who is a Presbyterian, said she would now vote for Irish unity and that she was an example to unionists in Northern Ireland of Irish \u201ctolerance and inclusivity\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ms Humphreys launched her campaign in her home county of Monaghan on Saturday, close to the border with Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
In a speech to party members, she talked about how her grandfather had signed the Ulster Covenant in 1912 \u2013 an oath of resistance signed by hundreds of thousands of unionists against home rule on the island of Ireland.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the media, she referenced her Protestant heritage as she said she wanted to \u201creach out\u201d to communities in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cWhen we were children, I attended (Orange Order) parades with my parents.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a family day out, it was a cultural day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the Troubles started, people were concerned and I didn\u2019t go then after that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fine Gael presidential candidate Heather Humphreys with family members at the launch event (Fergal Phillips\/PA)<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cThings have moved on a lot. I have been in St Patrick\u2019s Day parades in Cootehill, in Cavan Town, when Orange bands from Northern Ireland took part in those parades.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that is a sign of where we are now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to continue to build on the work of (former Irish president) Mary McAleese, she did wonderful work in reaching out to communities in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel I am well placed to do that, to extend the hand of friendship and to break down those barriers and to have that conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Humphreys said the Good Friday Agreement was the basis for any discussion about Irish unity.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cI certainly want to see a united Ireland, I definitely do, I have committed to that, but only through working with people and bringing them together.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think when people from the unionist background look at me, for example, I can honestly say to them this country has given me everything I have, it has made me what I am.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am an example of a tolerant, inclusive Ireland that can accommodate different traditions and different viewpoints.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cOf course I\u2019ll vote for a united Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if she would use the office of president to advocate for Irish unity, she said: \u201cWhat I want to do is convince people that this is a safe place, this is a good country, this is a safe place when it comes to your culture, when it comes to your identity.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will be respected.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will work towards that but only on the basis that we bring people together and try to break down those divisions that still exist.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been up in the north many, many times and when you scratch back the surface, there are deep divisions there and we have to really, really hard on that so that one day we will have a united people and a united Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Humphreys would not put a timeline on when she believed a unity referendum would take place.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cWe don\u2019t want to end up in a situation like we had with a referendum in the UK on Brexit and 51% said no and 49% said yes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is not going to solve problems.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is about moving it along, building the trust.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe presidency is a seven-year term and I\u2019m committed to spending my time trying to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Irish presidential hopeful Heather Humphreys has said she attended Orange Order parades as a child but stopped going…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43,17713,4022,3185,17712],"class_list":["post-19921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-place-northern-ireland","tag-place-republic-of-ireland","tag-president","tag-unity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}