Laois 'landslide' vote as Catherine Connolly set to become President of Ireland

Catherine Connolly topped the poll in Laois following the first count on Saturday afternoon.

She secured 15,814 votes, more than double Heather Humphreys who got 6,775 votes and almost ten times more than Jim Gavin’s 1,694 votes. 

In total 55.6 percent of Laois voters backed Catherine Connolly, 23.8 percent voted for Heather Humphreys, 5.95 percent voted for Jim Gavin and 14.6 percent spoiled their votes. 

Independent TD Brian Stanley congratulated Catherine Connolly. 

“As one of the TDs that nominated her and encouraged her to contest the election, I feel it is great to have her elected as the President, a President who believes in social justice and a United Ireland.

"Catherine will fulfil the role with professionalism, with dignity and with great integrity. She will be an excellent Ambassador, the premier Ambassador for the country, who will reflect the views of ordinary people and will do Ireland proud.

"I know she will champion the Irish language as she has always done. Catherine will promote an inclusive Ireland, a 32 County Ireland and will progress the work of national re–unification.  

READ ALSO: Connolly tops the poll in the first count

We will have a President who will be a strong voice internationally, a voice for peace, diplomacy and international law among world leaders. I look forward to her term in office,” said Dep Stanley.  

Senator Maria McCormack was “absolutely ecstatic” at the vote when she visited the count centre in Portlaoise. 

“I think it has really shown the power of a left alliance and it has shown that the people of Laois and of Ireland are absolutely sick of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael,” she said. 

“It has been a landslide here in Laois for Catherine Connolly. We are thrilled in Sinn Fein, she really aligns with so much of our values in uniting Ireland, standing up for people with disability, healthcare, everything like that so we are really really thrilled today,” said Ms McCormack.   

Fine Gael Cllr John King said “I am not shocked but I thought Heather would have done much better.” 

“I am disappointed with the spoiled votes because our forefathers fought to get those votes,” Cllr King said.  He said he wondered whether the people who spoiled the votes look to get benefits from the State. “If you vote against the State you shouldn’t be entitled to benefits,” said Cllr King. 

Meanwhile, Fine Gael Cllr Paddy Buggy said Heather Humphreys was an excellent candidate.  “I would have thought that the vote would be a lot closer but that’s life.” He believed people didn’t really understand the role of the President.  “It is not a role that you can dictate policy. You do that in the Dail,” he said. 

“My view was that Catherine Connolly didn’t answer any question that she was asked. Unfortunately Ivan Yates has a lot to answer for in that he said, ‘smear the bejaysus out of her’, so anytime we asked a question, oh that’s smear. So you couldn’t win in that situation,” he said. 

Cllr Buggy was disappointed with the questions about Heather Humphrey's husband. “Catherine wasn’t asked one word about her husband,” he said. 

“Because of some of the sectarian remarks that were made about Heather, people in the Republic are not ready for a united Ireland because there is two colours on the Irish flag, green and orange, and we need to make sure that everyone on the island feels part of the country and that we accept our different traditions on this island,” said Cllr Buggy.  

He wished Catherine Connolly well and said he hopes she does a good job for the sake of the country. 

In Laois there were 4,156 spoiled votes in the election and 24,283 valid votes and the turnout was 43.9 percent. The total number of people eligible to vote was 64,816.