Presidential election playbook out the window as final TV debate approaches

The playbook for presidential election campaigns has been thrown out the window. The received wisdom of candidates maintaining a dignified public appearance has not been followed, especially on the Fine Gael side. Contrast the approach of Heather Humphreys’ campaign in the first live TV debate in which she tried to stay above the fray and the political attacks on her opponent, Catherine Connolly, in the past few days.

Yes, the gloves are off. And we expect the second and final live debate tonight on RTÉ’s Prime Time to be a tense and bad-tempered affair.

Because of the way in which the hostilities between both camps have escalated, there is going to be extraordinary focus on that debate.

Could it be another 2011 moment when the trailing candidate overturns a seemingly unassailable lead? Then, Labour’s Michael D Higgins lagged 15 points behind the Independent candidate Seán Gallagher. Now Humphreys trails Connolly by 18 points.

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Yes, people are more engaged in the campaign in the past few days. Perhaps Fine Gael’s nakedly “project fear” approach might deter some people who might have been leaning towards Connolly. But it’s a very tall order to overturn an 18-point deficit, especially in a two-horse race. Fourteen years ago there were seven candidates in the field and Higgins was very transfer-friendly. So, an unlikely scenario.

The attacks intensify

As our lead story reports, Fine Gael has intensified its attacks on Connolly as both candidates in the presidential election prepare for the debate.

“Despite a backlash from several quarters, including pointed remarks from Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan, Fine Gael continued to accuse Ms Connolly of ‘hypocrisy’ for appearing for banks in home repossession cases as a barrister while being critical of the banks and campaigning for an end to evictions,” we report.

Fine Gael compiled a dossier of reports from local media in Galway from when Connolly, then a city councillor, fiercely criticised the government and the banks for the housing crisis. It follows a similar exercise of her collected Dáil speeches on Sunday, as well as a very pointed attack video that was circulated on social media.

O’Callaghan and others are referring to the “cab-rank” rule whereby barristers take the brief that is offered to them. Perhaps Fine Gael thinks there is nothing to lose and the best form of defence is attack in the last days of the campaign.

We report some misgivings from Fine Gael backbench TDs about the strategy.

“There’s enough division in Irish politics already”, said one, who added the attack video was “an American-style piece and it’s unsavoury – and we shouldn’t be doing that”.

Councils with no CPOs on derelict homes

A number of councils have not compulsorily purchased derelict homes, Department of Housing data has revealed.

Minister for Housing James Browne will brief the Cabinet today that councils in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Galway (county and city), Kerry, Louth and Leitrim did not use the powers to complete acquisitions in either year using compulsory purchase orders.

“Some other large local authorities only completed purchases sparingly, with Cork City and County Councils completing eight each, Dublin City buying nine, South Dublin buying four and Fingal three,” writes Jack Horgan-Jones.

CPOs are complex and can take a long time because of uncertainty, or disputes, over title. But sources have said it is a tool to tackle dereliction and Browne’s memo seems to be the latest of his “name and shame” initiatives to compel local authorities to inject more urgency into tackling the housing crisis.

Browne will also brief the Cabinet on the response to Storm Éowyn. Elsewhere at Cabinet, Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon is to warn colleagues of an increased risk of avian influenza this year, and Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan is introducing a law that would allow judgments against those prosecuted for offences relating to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence to be published on a publicly available list.

Election Daily Podcast

The Inside Politics team is bringing out an Election Daily podcast every day during the campaign, with host Hugh Linehan and the political correspondents parsing all the latest twists and developments of the day. Here is the latest.

Best Reads

Hugh Linehan has a thoughtful piece on the online election campaign. He writes that for almost 15 years now we’ve been told that the next election would be the one decided online. This time, that might actually be true. One reason he gives is the willingness of the candidates to appear on podcasts. Connolly has made it a plank of her media appearances while Humphreys has appeared on few if any to date but plans to do so in the final week.

Fintan O’Toole argues, in an excellent column, that Heather Humphreys needs to be a better loser. He says her attacks have been “feckless populism”.

“Connolly has many questions to answer and she dodges most of them. But trying to make her guilty by association with the clients she represented when she was working as a barrister is cheap, cynical and corrosive of trust in the justice system,” he writes.

Colm Keena explains the cab-rank rule.

Playbook

Dáil

14:00: Leaders’ Questions.

14:34: Order of Business and Questions on Policy or Legislation.

15:04: Bills for Introduction: Companies (Protection of Title: Accountant) Bill 2025 – First Stage.

15:10: Taoiseach’s Questions.

15:55: Finance Bill 2025 – Second Stage (Department of Finance).

19:29: Deferred Divisions.

19:59: Private Members’ Business (Sinn Féin): Motion on Irish Unity.

21:59: Parliamentary Questions to Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Harris.

23:36: Topical Issues.

00:36: Dáil adjourns.

Seanad

14:30: Commencement matters.

16:00: Order of Business.

17:00: Statements on higher education.

18:30: Private Members’ motion regarding the cost of childcare.

20:30: Housing Finance Agency (Amendment) Bill 2025.

23:00: Seanad adjourns.

Committees

11:00. Committee on Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. Meeting Prof Deirdre Heenan of Ulster University and Prof Anne Matthews of Dublin City University.

15:00: Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration discusses pre-legislative scrutiny of a general scheme: International Protection Bill 2025.

15:00: Housing Committee discusses vacancy and dereliction.