Catherine Connolly has already been lauded as the clear winner of the 2025 Irish Presidential Election.
She had received the backing of all major left-wing parliamentary parties, including Sinn Féin, Labour, the Greens and People Before Profit-Solidarity.
TD for People Before Profit Paul Murphy said Connolly’s predicted victory holds a “clear lesson” for future political strategies.
“When the left unites, we can win,” he told Shane Coleman.
“That isn’t a lesson we should just now sail on by, but we should reflect on and see what the next steps are.
“For us and People Before Profit, there’s two fundamental parts of that.
“One is to say, we can’t wait for the next general election, we have to mobilise people in support of the values they’ve voted for now.”
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Deputy Murphy said issues that left wing parties need to seize on include “demanding the full implementation of the Occupied Territories Bill”, as well as “demanding the Government withdraws from its plan to remove the Triple Lock”.
“Action on housing and the cost-of-living, but also to deepen the issue of electoral cooperation in the Galway by-election and for the next general election,” he said.
When it comes to draft legislation around the Triple Lock, Deputy Murphy said he would hope to see Catherine Connolly use the office of the president to “scrutinise that”.
Catherine Connolly and Heather Humphreys.“I’d be disappointed it if goes through, not at Catherine Connolly, but at the Government,” he said.
“Because the number one issue in this election – there was many, many issues – but the number one issue was the issue of neutrality.
“People made their voice very, very clear on it; they supported Catherine’s vision.
“Catherine was clear in defending the triple lock as an expression of our neutrality, people supported that, so I think the onus is on the Government now to reflect on that and to withdraw that proposal”.
According to Deputy Murphy, he would call for a “transfer left pact” going forward into future elections.
Main image: PPeople Before Profit TD Paul Murphy on the Dáil plinth, 19-02-2022. Image: Sam Boal/RollingNews
