Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael attacks not halting Connolly's momentum
James Cox
Here, we have a look at the topics likely to dominate political discourse in the week to come.
Connolly's lead unassailable?
With the presidential election now days away, it looks like Independent candidate Catherine Connolly is on her way to Áras an Uachtaráin.
Speaking on his Path to Power podcast, Ivan Yates, whose comments sparked controversy in the election recently, went as far as to call it a "coronation".
Fine Gael figures are understood to be privately conceding the lead may be unassailable after an Irish Times/Ipsos poll found Ms Connolly's support on 38 per cent to 20 per cent for Ms Humphreys.
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael on the attack
Ms Humphreys and Fine Gael have criticised Catherine Connolly’s work as a barrister, claiming her time representing financial institutions clashed with remarks on banks in the Dáil.
Opposition leaders and barristers, including Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan, have defended the “cab-rank rule” that means barristers cannot discriminate against those seeking legal representation.
Meanwhile, Taoiseach Micheál Martin accused Ms Connolly of being anti-EU.
“We need to start calling out people who say ‘Oh, but I’m pro-EU’ as they constantly announce and re-announce the supposed end of Irish sovereignty,” he said in an address at Fianna Fáil’s Theobald Wolfe Tone Commemoration at Bodenstown Graveyard in Co Kildare.
“You’re not pro-EU if you stand against every treaty which has built the union over the last quarter of a century.
“You’re not pro-EU if you constantly say that it’s destroying our neutrality and is in the hands of a military-industrial complex.”
Asked by reports if he was referring to Ms Connolly, the Taoiseach responded: "Well, I think Catherine is in that camp. There’s no question about that, along with Sinn Féin and along with other parties on the left who constantly, first of all, voted against European Union Treaties, but also talk about Europe as if it’s a warmongerer, or if it’s a military-industrial complex.
“People need to be unequivocal about how beneficial membership of the European Union has been to this country.”
How Connolly is winning the 'battle of the airwaves'
Catherine Connolly has been "more effective in balancing the positive and negative stories" than her presidential rival Heather Humphreys, according to a researcher monitoring the candidates' radio performance.
Catherine Connolly leads Heather Humphreys in every qualifying county head-to-head on local radio, with the tightest margins in Dublin (+6.3 pp) and Limerick (+5.9 pp) according to PR intelligence platform Everhaze, which released its latest report in its ‘Battle of the Airwaves’ series.
The report which tracked 4,021 radio mentions of the candidates from September 25th to October 10th shows that in overall volume, despite dropping out of the campaign, Jim Gavin remains the dominant voice on air, capturing 50.1 per cent of all radio mentions (2,013 of 4,021) across 60 stations and show.
In an interview with BreakingNews.ie, Everhaze chief executive James McCann said: "Jim Gavin's withdrawal took the oxygen out of the room for the other two candidates.
"Now as we're into the final week of the campaign what we're starting to see is Catherine Connolly still has a massive advantage when it comes to share of voice and overall sentiment.
"Connolly is having an easier time getting her message across over controversies as opposed to Heather Humphreys."
Mr McCann said the "stickability" of each controversy is a huge factor.
Minister says Government 'trying desperately' to get services included in OTB
A Minister of State has said the Government is still "trying desperately" to ensure services are included in the Occupied Territories Bill, but has to wait for legal advice from the Attorney General.
The Bill aims to ban trade with companies operating in illegally occupied Palestinian territories.
It comes after confusion in relation to the Bill earlier in the week when Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that “the feedback I’m getting, it’s not just implementable”.
This led to criticism from many opposition politicians, while Senator Frances Black, who first put the Bill forward, said she is "extremely concerned" trade in services will be excluded.
Speaking to BreakingNews.ie, Minister of State Neale Richmond said the Government still hopes to include services in the Bill, but must make sure it is "legally binding" following advice from Attorney General Rossa Fanning.
"A lot of the focus on Israel's actions is our belief in defending the rule of law. Israel have broken international law continually. If we're producing legislation, it needs to be legally binding, not just statement legislation.
"The original iteration of the Occupied Territories Bill was presented by Senator Frances Black in 2018. It was only July 2024 where we found a window through the ICJ [International Court of Justice] to do something on it."
The Fine Gael TD added that he is still confident of passing "thorough legislation", adding that the inclusion of services must be "legally watertight".
Minister says Irish funds for Gaza rebuilding won't be diverted from other programmes
A Government minister has said Ireland's aid contribution to the reconstruction of Gaza will not mean funding is diverted from other programmes, adding "at a time like this it's even more important for a small country like Ireland to stand up and say 'this is the right thing to do'."
In addition to €6 million in humanitarian aid committed to Gaza this week, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris briefed Cabinet about plans to commit millions more to the reconstruction of Gaza following the recent peace deal.
This raised some questions about whether funds would need to be diverted from other foreign aid programmes, or domestic programmes.
In an interview with BreakingNews.ie, Minister of State for International Development and Diaspora Neale Richmond said "it won't be at the expense of other programmes".
Speaking in Leinster House, the Fine Gael TD explained that the State's Official Development Assistance (ODA) fund has gone up by €30 million, "so that will allow us to do more in Gaza and other countries".
Abroad
US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were in Israel on Monday to shore up the tenuous ceasefire that is holding in Gaza.
