During a presidential debate on RTÉ Radio 1 this past weekend, Heather Humphreys herself joined the campaign of smear and fear being levied against Catherine Connolly by the political establishment. Failing to debate the substance of the issues, Humphreys instead offered up a desperate attempt on behalf of Official Ireland to shield the status quo from scrutiny.

Humphreys accused Connolly of insulting the United States, the United Kingdom and France due to criticism made by the latter of those countries’ complicity in Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people through their arms industries. This is a rather blatant attempt at ignoring the issue, accusing Connolly of insulting entire countries rather than dealing with the substance of her criticism. The Irish people are clear in their support for Palestine, yet Humphreys would clearly rather we kept our mouths shut and kept cosying up to EU and NATO warmongers. This occurs at a time when her former government colleagues, by ripping up the last remnants of our neutrality, are working to ensure that Irishmen and Irishwomen can be sent to fight and die abroad in imperialist wars.

Additionally, Humphreys stated that she has never heard her opponent condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, despite the fact that she has done so on record on multiple occasions. Connolly takes the more nuanced view that “as a neutral country, if we want to maintain our credibility, then we must question truth to power to other countries” and, presumably, not just blindly follow the EU, US and NATO line. Humphreys is arguing from ignorance in order to go out and bat for Ireland’s subservience to those powers. The reason for this is simple: the capitalist class that she and her party represent profit from Ireland being considered a good little lapdog by the West, even if that set-up fails to provide for the Irish working class.

Humphreys also brought up that Connolly enjoys the support of Mick Wallace, Clare Daly and Paul Murphy, and repeatedly used the term “far-left” to describe them, saying nothing of substance before quickly attempting to jump back to the bogeyman that is Russia. This attempt to paint Connolly as guilty of something by association is desperate. Humphreys fails to explain what Wallace, Daly and Murphy have actually done wrong (other than accusing them of having “spoken out against Europe,” whatever that means, as well as making potentially defamatory remarks about Murphy in particular,) resorting instead to name-calling in an attempt to paint them as scary extremists. Is it really extreme to want public housing during a housing crisis? Is it extreme to criticise the EU for its role in imposing austerity and its complicity in genocide? Is it extreme to want Ireland to be something more than a client state of imperialism? It is if you’re a Fine Gaeler.

The latest polling shows a lead for Catherine Connolly, and it is clear that Fine Gael and the rest of Official Ireland are worried, not just about what this might mean for the upcoming presidential election, but what the broad support for Connolly’s campaign might mean going forward in a state that has never been governed by anyone other than Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil.

It is no wonder, then, that their subpar presidential candidate has resorted to tactics designed not to engage with the issues that she herself has played a role in creating, but to scare voters into thinking that the bogeyman is coming to get them if they dare stray away from the status quo in their thinking. Don’t let them take you for a fool. On Friday, 24th October, vote Catherine Connolly for President.