The Fine Gael candidate in the presidential election Heather Humphreys has said she hopes that the race for the Áras will be “a good clean” campaign, but she had discussed the matter with her family and the attacks she is likely to face.
Ms Humphreys has told her daughters to stay off social media for the next eight weeks because she will probably get “the brunt” of criticism as she had been a minister and “people will attack decisions I’ve made in the past”.
They “do understand the importance of public service, and they’re very much behind me”.
Speaking on RTÉ lunchtime news the former minister defended her role in government, when questioned about Fine Gael presiding over record homelessness.
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She said “I won’t be a Fine Gael president. I believe the presidency is above party politics, and I want to be a president for all the people on our island, and I will be a voice for people on this island. I have served in government, and did I get everything right? No, I didn’t, but I always tried my best.”
She said housing “is the biggest challenge facing the country, and I know it’s very tough”. There is a range of initiatives being taken now. “And of course, there were decisions maybe we could have made sooner.
“Maybe, when I look back, we were cautious, because we’re after coming out of the recession, and there was a reluctance from the Department of Finance to spend.”
Reiterating she did her best she said “judge me on my record in the many different departments that I have served in”.
She was pressed about criticism by disability rights campaigners about a 2023 Green Paper, which Independent Senator Tom Clonan said would have made it compulsory to examine disabled citizens for their ability to work and if they could they would have ended up receiving a lower disability payment.
“I find this very hurtful, because I have never tried to cause distress to anyone, and I’ve always advocated for disabled people and their rights,” she said.
The paper was only ever a consultation document and nobody was going to receive lower benefits, she added. During the consultation she listened to people’s views including Senator Clonan’s “and based on those genuine concerns raised I decided not to proceed with it”.
She added that she increased disability and carers payments in successive budgets and provided a range of cost of living supports, including legislation to provide a pension to long term carers and a free travel pass for people who are medically unfit to drive, particularly those with epilepsy.
Speaking earlier on Newstalk Breakfast, the former minister said she wanted to be president “because I believe it’s a role that unites people, a role that brings people together, that listens, supports and represents all of us on this island, no matter where we come from or what our background is.
“We’re living in a very divisive world and I believe that the president can be a unifying force in this country who brings people together and I’ve always sought to break down barriers and reach out the hand of friendship.
“So I want to focus on using the presidency to listen to people, to hear their story and where there is division, try and facilitate reconciliation and understanding.”
She said she was “very proud” to lead the 1916 centenary commemorations as a minister.
“And I am very proud of how we as a nation commemorated that very complex and very formative chapter in our history. So, if you remember, there was a lot of concern at the time in the lead-up to those commemorations that they could be very divisive. And what we actually saw was the opposite. The commemorations brought people together and it brought communities together and there was a real sense of national pride and identity.
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“And I think we need to get back to that. That sense of community, that sense of bringing people together and building bridges. And that will be very much at the centre of my campaign.”
When asked about her background as a Presbyterian from Ulster, Ms Humphreys said she wanted to be a president for all the people of the island of Ireland.
“Yes I come from a Presbyterian background. I was reared on a farm about six miles from Northern Ireland so I understand what it’s like to live on the Border, and indeed I often look back and think what it was like in 1921 when the Border was formed. You know Catholics went to sleep as Irish and woke up as British citizens ... and what it was like for Protestants who went to sleep British and they woke up as Irish citizens.
I’m a very proud Ulster woman, I’m very proud Irish woman and I’m proud republican in the spirit of liberty, equality and fraternity. And that’s in the tradition of Wolfe Tone, of Henry John McCracken and the United Irishmen
— Heather Humphreys
“So I really do have a deep understanding of their very real concerns and how many felt abandoned on both sides of the border and they had to adjust to new circumstances.”
She said she is “old enough to remember” what it was like during the Troubles, “when you were told by your parents to keep your head down and to keep quiet and to say nothing that was going to bring trouble or attention to your family.
“And I have no doubt that same advice was given in Catholic homes to Catholic children on the other side of the Border.”
Ms Humphreys said that while the violence is gone, peace is something that has to be worked on.
“I do feel I’m uniquely placed to reach out to communities in Northern Ireland and build on the good work already done in breaking down barriers and building trust. And it’s only when we have a united people that I believe we can have a United Ireland.
“I’m a very proud Ulster woman, I’m very proud Irish woman and I’m proud republican in the spirit of liberty, equality and fraternity. And that’s in the tradition of Wolfe Tone, of Henry John McCracken and the United Irishmen. I love this country and it has made me everything I am and it’s given me everything I have. So, regardless of my religious background, I believe that I am living proof that this country treated me fairly. It gave me every opportunity to realise my full potential. And I really hope that I can be a beacon of trust and hope for communities right across Northern Ireland.”
When Ms Humphreys was asked if she felt President Michael D Higgins had gone beyond the constitutional restraints of the office, she said she thought Mr Higgins had done a very good job as president and “he has served our country very well.
“He’s a man of immense passion and his whole life has been about social justice, and when he has seen injustice in the world he’s spoken out against it.
“If I was the president, I would operate within the constitutional limits of the role. Now there’s no point in people promising in this election that are going to solve every problem in the country because that’s not the role of the president.”
On being asked if she would take the full presidential salary, Ms Humphreys said she would do as Mr Higgins had done.
“I would do as Michael Higgins has done. He was a former minister like myself. I think the position he has taken is he accepts the salary but he has gifted his ministerial pension to the State while he was president, and I would do the same.”
Ms Humphreys also said she would return to the Gaeltacht if elected president to improve her Irish. When asked about other potential candidates in the presidential race, she said she knew Catherine Connolly and Billy Kelleher from Leinster House and, while she would not agree with them on everything, “they’re two very decent, hard-working people.
“I don’t know Jim Gavin personally, but he’s a very good football manager with Dublin, so whatever the line-up, I wish everybody well and I do hope we can have a good clean campaign and at the end of the day the people will make up their mind.”
