IT'S hard to sum up the absolute car crash of the Southern Presidential election in ways that are kind, positive or contributory right now. With what were three pretty underwhelming candidates, who could have expected the thrills and spills of the weekend?
At the heart of the spectacle is a reasonably private man who tried his best. He was at the mercy of others more powerful. He was against the odds when trying to defend his reputation and his family. But when the public interest demanded it, he stood up. The man who rented an apartment from Jim Gavin is that anonymous hero.
It is far too easy to laugh in admiration and say he served his revenge stone cold and with most effect. This is a family man, whose wife was expecting a baby at the time and was apparently screwed over by Jim Gavin, and who broke his silence over the weekend so that Ireland would not be fooled yet again by a landlord who treated his tenants with disregard. Jim Gavin must own that.
Mícheál Martin, though, is the man who waged the internal Fianna Fáil campaign to have Jim Gavin, despite the evident unsuitability of the candidate. Gavin spent a career dodging the affliction of a personality and was expected to develop one in the most personal of campaigns. The hubris of both out-of-touch middle-aged men has deservedly cost one of them dearly, and potentially Fianna Fáil its leader.
For those of us living in the North, we continue to be enthralled by this rollercoaster, sad that we cannot vote, despite us being talked about ad nauseam. Our rights to a democratic constitutional future are bandied around as if they are negotiable or can be subject to an Orange card. They aren’t and they can’t.
Heather Humphreys is on record as saying she would like a united Ireland. If she does, she needs to stop waffling about “relationships”, read the Good Friday Agreement and get busy planning. She is trying so hard to tell you what she thinks you want to hear, but you end up not very sure she means it, or even knows what she is talking about. She was the Minister for the Gaeltacht and didn’t have enough grá for an Ghaeilge to learn it then, nor during the past year since she left Leinster House. Why would we believe she wants to learn it now?
Catherine Connolly, by contrast, speaks with knowledge and precision. Even when she knows you won’t agree.
She is not a tokenistic Free Stater. She points to the failure to ensure our voting rights north of the border. She understands the conditions for a border poll and the democratic deficit that currently exists. She refers to the recommendations of two Oireachtas Committee reports recommending immediate planning for a border poll. She is the grown-up in every room.
She, of course, could be like Heather – bending her public positions and principles for expediency. The fact she doesn’t is her biggest strength. Look at her no-nonsense, admirable defence of employing a former prisoner. In these turbulent times the public needs integrity, and thus the unlikely Catherine is the one gaining respect, and momentum, by the day.
