One of the scariest moments in an older brother’s life is when your younger sibling is approached by Young Fianna Fáil. I was struck by this fear when my impressionable younger brother was cornered by a member of the group during his Freshers’ Week. However, his question to his assailant was one that immediately summoned a soaring pride to my chest; “What’s the difference between you lads and Fine Gael?” Fighting tears of joy, my ear was turned once again by the volunteer’s answer. “Fianna Fáil are for the people.” Wet eyes turned to raised eyebrows. I suggested that he should have pointed out that Fianna Fáil are for the people who can afford homes past the Grand Canal DART stop, but I’ll not try and take away from his first attempt at social consciousness.
Over the past week, Fianna Fáil’s latest man of the people, Jim Gavin, has drawn the ire of certain parts of the nation through his choice of white trousers in a campaign video that sees him frolicking around a farm and stressing his rural roots to voters. A popular critique of Gavin I’ve stumbled across on social media is that no one outside of Dublin would possibly know enough about him to vote for him as president. I personally feel this is an unfair assessment of one of the most renowned figures in our national sport; rather, I would argue that no one outside of Dublin would think wearing white trousers on a farm could be a practical choice. Gavin, clearly adjusting to his role as a Fianna Fáil candidate given this typically awkward attempt to relate to the voters, has offered little more inspiration in his policies; rather, he would seem to be taking a leaf out of Joanna Donnelly’s book and making public his history of ‘going with the majority’ in our most recent referendums and elections in the pursuit of palatability. I’m personally considering starting a kind of swear jar for every time someone at the party has the good sense to bring up Gavin’s seven All-Ireland titles, but perhaps they’re worried about losing the votes of the Mayo population. Never fear, because in the absence of Fianna Fáil’s usual champion of the everyman, Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys has stepped in to assert herself as an active participant in what she calls “the real world”. Humphreys’ campaign statement may have been better advised to include a disclaimer that the real world may not include her husband’s involvement in the Orange Order, her failed promises to learn Irish, and her support of the Green Paper.
This is the familiar shape of the parties’ election cycle; the regular do-as-I-say, not do-as-I-do attempts at relatability. In recent years, the game-changer in Fianna one and two’s political strategy has not been in policy; rather, it has been their willingness to band together in the aim of preserving their place in government. It is a strategy that has warded off the challenge of Sinn Féin in the past two general elections, and it’s about time other parties took similar steps to better organise their efforts. This recent show of unity by the party with People Before Profit, Social Democrats, and others in their endorsement of Catherine Connolly is not only encouraging in that it lends support to someone who would be an excellent choice for the Aras, but may also prove to be a winning strategy come the next general election. Disheartening as it was to watch Sinn Féin effectively being locked out of government in 2020, 2024 was a missed opportunity to better coordinate their efforts with the rest of the political left in this country. Connolly has been held up by her supporters, myself included, as an ideal Uachtarán; given her years of experience in both the government and public service, her fluency in the Irish language, and stance on issues such as the genocide in Palestine, she is clearly the most apt successor for President Higgins. However, this newfound spirit of cooperation among those backing her in her efforts to reach the office, should it prove successful, could be the greatest legacy of her campaign.
Because, unfortunately, now comes the part of the discourse on the Presidential Election where we end up talking about Conor McGregor, who has recently withdrawn his interest from the role, in a similar fashion to my friend who’s recently withdrawn his interest from being Sabrina Carpenter’s boyfriend, i.e., not like it would have happened anyway. Despite trends in the rest of Western democracy loitering in the background to prove me wrong, my faith in the voters in this country is such that I don’t believe McGregor holds an easy route to the Aras through the people of Ireland. Instead, what is concerning is who he has chosen to align himself with in his fledgling political career; his appearance in the White House this last St. Patrick’s Day and the hateful rhetoric in his campaign in regards our supposed problem with immigration is symptomatic of the Trump-Musk sphere of arch-conservatism. Given the commitment of these figures to the destabilisation of the current world order, their interest in our elections could very well see them taken out of our hands. After all, who needs the support of the people of Ireland when the world’s second-richest man is offering to personally bankroll your campaign?
Sickening as it may be, those ghastly liberals your uncles are always moaning about may be the way forward, with a unified effort from our left-wing parties, possibly our best hope for establishing a country that can withstand the coming wave; after all, if we’ve seen so many of our neighbours fall into the clutches of these alt-right figures, we should not be so ignorant to assume the same could not happen here. While it may be easy to disregard McGregor, cutting a ridiculous figure blessing himself in front of the Dáil and taking a break from championing the needs of the Irish people to promote his own whiskey to Tucker Carlson, he is not the only spectre of conservatism hanging over our democracy. The destructive force of the Republican movement is clear to see across the U.S, but so is the ineffectiveness of the Democratic leadership in stemming its rise. We must not make the same mistakes here, and a concentrated effort among our political left to work in tandem would be a first step. Hopefully, Catherine Conolly’s campaign for the Aras can help launch this strategy into action, so long as she leaves any Hermes handbags at home.
