Overview

• Heather Humphreys said her team is not running a smear campaign against Catherine Connolly and called for a fair race in the final two weeks.
• Her denial followed the RTÉ Drivetime debate where she claimed Connolly had insulted allies and likened Connolly’s outlook to Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement.
• Catherine Connolly called the allegation scurrilous and clarified that she would never hire anyone on the sex offenders register after earlier saying she would need to reflect.
• Labour leader Ivana Bacik condemned Fine Gael’s attack as outrageous smear tactics, and Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns described it as a desperate distraction.
• Policy contrasts featured prominently as Humphreys defended austerity-era decisions while conceding spending could have started sooner, and Connolly defended past repossession-case work, stressed a peace-focused foreign-policy voice, and said any border poll should be left to political parties.