Heather Humphreys stepped in for Fine Gael when the party front-runner Mairead McGuinness was forced to withdraw on health grounds. One thing was missing from Catherine’s candidacy – something which was a feature of Maria Steen’s whisker-close failure and the approach of both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael: entitlement. For Fine Gael, it was about righting 80 years of injustice and gifting the people of Ireland (and the Blueshirts) their first Fine Gael president. If Fine Gael is anything to go by, politics is a young person’s game now. There may yet be redemption for the housing Minister, who is pushing the Government’s belated but welcome drive to push through vital infrastructure projects while also promising to streamline the planning process.

Source: The Irish Times January 03, 2026 15:01 UTC