Labour to ‘seriously' consider backing former member Connolly for presidency
Nominees are finally emerging to replace Michael D Higgins this autumn, after he served the maximum, two seven-year terms as President.
Advertisement
Independent Galway TD Ms Connolly has already received the backing of the Social Democrats and People Before Profit and is expected to garner the support of several independents.
Mairead McGuinness, who was a TV presenter and farming journalist before becoming an MEP and EU Commissioner, is expected to be confirmed as Fine Gael's candidate on Tuesday.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has also refused to rule herself out of running for the presidency.
Prospective candidates need the support of 20 Oireachtas members to get on the ballot paper.
Advertisement
Fianna Fáil, the party with the most TDs in the Dáil, has not clarified if it will run a candidate.
Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers said that the party was 'assessing our options' and a decision would be made by the parliamentary party in the early autumn.
Asked about Taoiseach Micheál Martin as a possible candidate, Mr Chambers said he was 'very focused on the job of government'.
Labour TD George Lawlor said on Tuesday that Ms Connolly had approached Labour party leader Ivana Bacik seeking the party's support and they would 'consider very seriously' their decision.
Advertisement
'We will speak with our members, and our members will be contacted, and a decision will be made after that. No decisions will be made today.'
He added: 'We will be asking Catherine to outline her vision for the presidency and where she sees her role in that. It's a position that the Labour party has promoted very strong candidates for in the past.'
Left-wing independent Ms Connolly worked as a barrister and a clinical psychologist before becoming a councillor for 17 years and spending a term as a Galway mayor until 2005.
She resigned from the Labour party in 2006 after being turned down to run as a running mate of then-incumbent TD Michael D Higgins.
Advertisement
She was first elected to the Dáil as an independent candidate for Galway West in 2016 and has been an outspoken advocate for Palestine and against US army aircraft refuelling at Shannon Airport.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
20 minutes ago
- Telegraph
This was too little, too late from the ‘iron' Chancellor
There will be a round of deregulation. Lending rules will be relaxed. And new listings will be accelerated. Rachel Reeves did everything she could in her Mansion House speech this evening to win back the City. From any other Chancellor it might have been greeted with loud applause. From this one, however, it will be dead on arrival. The relationship with finance is irretrievably broken – and is too late to win it back now. The bankers and brokers listening to Reeves this evening will like much of what she had to say. The relaxation of lending rules will be welcomed, even if it is questionable whether the British housing market needs yet more debt instead of more supply. Easing some red tape is always helpful, and something needs to be done to encourage more new listings. In reality, however, Labour's relationship with business is now broken beyond repair. When Reeves took office there was plenty of goodwill. Business was ready for a change of 14 years of a Conservative government that seemed more and more chaotic with every year that passed. She even had one or two ideas that sounded good, even if they were thin on detail. By now, however, the City feels completely betrayed. The assault on non-doms has driven wealthy clients out of the country, and many successful entrepreneurs as well, with nothing to replace them. The steep rise in employers' National Insurance has drained money out of companies, and hit profits and dividends. Her changes to inheritance tax have hammered not just farmers but every privately owned business, and many of those are still crucial to the economy. The extra employment rights might please the unions but they could be ruinous for the City. The list goes on and on. Business was told that Reeves was a pro-growth, pro-enterprise Chancellor. Instead she has led an assault on the private sector with no parallel in recent British history. It looks as if it will only get worse over the next year. We all know that there will be another huge round of tax rises in the autumn, and business may well bear the brunt of that. It could be higher business rates, a windfall tax on the banks or utilities, or even a 'temporary' surcharge on corporation tax, similar to the levy imposed in France earlier this year. Likewise, the plutocrats of the Square Mile are likely to be squeezed for extra tax revenue. We may well see a return of the 50 per cent top rate of tax. Or, even worse, a wealth tax, catastrophic for the City where £10 million is regarded as a respectable annual bonus, and not an obscene fortune to be taxed away. Sure, a few reforms are worth having. And it is good that Reeves recognises how crucial the City and financial services are to the British economy, even if many of the Left-wingers on her backbenchers won't agree with her. Finance has always been one of the key drivers of growth, as well as generating huge tax revenues. But the blunt truth is this. Reeves has lost the trust of the City. And no matter how hard she tries, it's surely gone forever.
Daily Mail
43 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Past-it lawmaker's desperate new ad copying charismatic young rival who's set to hammer him
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo made a desperate grab for votes with a new ad that closely resembles that of his rival, Zohran Mamdani, after announcing his continued stake in the New York City Mayoral election. Cuomo posted the warm-toned, cinematically staged video of himself talking to the camera before the ad cut to clips of him roaming the streets of the city greeting the people of New York. The casual and friendly tone of the advert appeared to copy that of his charismatic younger rival Mamdani. Mamdani, who stood out as the favorite for the Democratic primary for mayor hopeful, has many clips of himself connecting with the city in a similar way. Cuomo was filmed shaking hands of people on the streets, chatting, and taking selfies. He stood with an MTA worker, visited a local business, and had his picture taken with a child. The choppy cuts and 'walk the streets' nature of the ad resembled Mamdani's similarly warm-toned, cinematic ads of himself chatting and taking pictures with supporters across the city. Cuomo's video was accompanied by another of him helping a young man jump start his car, which appears to imply a similar connection to the youth of New York City that Mamdani has conveyed in his adverts. While Mamdani's social media is peppered with videos such as these, Cuomo's first crack at the campaigning method comes after a blow to his hopes for mayor following the primary. The casual and friendly tone of the advert appeared to copy that of his charismatic younger rival Zohran Mamdani, who stood out as the favorite for the Democratic primary for mayor hopeful The advert announced his continued 'fight' in the election despite the loss, as he said: 'I am truly sorry that I let you down. But as my grandfather used to say, when you get knocked down, learn the lesson and pick yourself back up and get in the game.' 'And that is what I'm going to do. The fight to save our city isn't over,' he added. Cuomo promised that if by mid-September he is not the highest-ranked challenger to Mamdani, then he would drop out of the race, according to a letter to his supporters. Mamdani closed the wide gap between himself and Cuomo after the race's two debates, due largely to his strong presence campaigning on social media and a strong effort by volunteers on the ground. Mamdani defeated Cuomo by more than twelve percentage points, the New York Times reported. The defeat was chalked down to Cuomo's lack of campaign activity, believed to be the result of a sense of inevitability, as well as Mamdani's strong focus on affordability - a hot topic for many New Yorkers. Cuomo himself admitted he had 'made mistakes' in the run up to the primary after he was questioned on his true desire to hold the mayoral position following a streak of evasive behavior. The former governor soured for many after he drove to events in his Dodge Charger and avoided appearing onstage at forums with his opponents. 'All my life I've been known for pushing too hard, but this time I played it safe, believing in the polls that said our campaign was way ahead, and not giving New Yorkers the campaign they deserved,' Cuomo wrote in a letter to his supporters, NYT reported. 'I was not aggressive enough in communicating my vision for a fairer, safer, more affordable New York, or in debunking and exposing Zohran Mamdani's unrealistic proposals and divisive agenda. I promise you, I will not make that mistake again,' he said. Cuomo promised a 'very different kind of campaign' with a focus on meeting the people of the city, discussing their struggles and how to reach solutions. Mamdani said on Monday at a rally in Manhattan: 'I think he's struggling to come to terms with what Tuesday meant. We spent an entire campaign being told that it was inevitable for Andrew Cuomo to be the next mayor, and he believed that himself.' Responses on the platform to Cuomo's new advert show the new campaign effort was not well received, despite his re-vamped attitude toward the race. 'Sounds like your plan is to steal Zohran's platform for November...' one commenter wrote. 'The awkward dap up with the black guy for street cred is killing me,' another said. 'Sounds like you are copying Zohran's campaign with zero charisma. Good luck with that!' In response to Cuomo's advert, Mamdani commented on X with a link to donate to his own campaign. Cuomo's advert garnered 5.1k likes and 4.2k reposts, while Mamdani's comment managed to grab 166k likes and 10k reposts.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Fresh Labour rebellion brews over plans to scrap legal protections for Northern Ireland veterans
LABOUR is facing a fresh rebellion over plans to scrap legal protections for Northern Ireland veterans — with its own veterans minister on resignation watch. Ex-Royal Marine Alistair Carns reportedly said he cannot back moves that would reopen prosecutions of British soldiers who served during the Troubles. 2 Mr Carns, awarded the Military Cross, is said to have made his position crystal clear at a packed meeting with Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn last week. It comes as the Government prepares to publish a bill within weeks to repeal the 2023 Legacy Act, which granted conditional immunity from prosecution to veterans and paramilitaries who co-operated with a new information recovery body. Labour pledged in its manifesto to scrap the law, claiming it denied justice to victims' families - but critics warn any reversal could trigger a wave of historic prosecutions against British troops. A Government source told The Times: 'There is a huge row brewing. 'Everyone has been left with the impression that this is a resignation matter.' Hundreds of former servicemen roared into Parliament Square on motorbikes this week in protest, blasting their horns in a deafening show of anger. A staggering 176,000 Brits have signed a petition urging the government to back off, saying it is morally wrong to drag troops through the courts decades later. The Prime Minister's spokesman said: 'We will always protect our veterans, and we are clear that any process must be proportionate and it must not be malicious, and we will ensure that the right safeguards are in place as we set out a way forward that fixes the issue that we inherited from the previous government.' Violent clashes continue on second night of Ballymena disorder 2
