Humphreys hopes to take the Áras to the people
Slick campaign launch on the border in Monaghan
HEATHER Humphreys’ presidential campaign launch at the weekend was on the border, in Monaghan and in the Peace Campus, which she helped launch in 2019 when she was Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation.
None of this messaging nor the Patrick Kavanagh quotes, mentions of the credit union and milking cows were accidental as the former Cavan-Monaghan TD who lives in Drum, Co Monaghan, chose her campaign slogan ‘Community, Unity and Opportunity’.
The launch had a sense of both a homebird and slick advertising campaign to it.
Homebird in that Heather Humphreys presented as a simple farmer’s wife, mother and grandmother or as what fellow Monaghan man, Oliver Callan, might refer to as the “mammy of the Dáil” figure.
Slick in that the launch event was addressed by a series of independent speakers from the world of sport, business, academia and rural Ireland endorsing Heather’s candidacy for the Presidency.
Speakers included: Julie Sinnamon, former CEO of Enterprise Ireland; Mary Daly, Professor Emeritus in Irish History at University College Dublin; Aogán Ó Fearghail, former President of the GAA and; Joe Healy, former President of the IFA.
The video that coincided with the launch on social media was both slick and homebird in equal measure as it captured Heather at home on the farm with her grandkids and somehow managed to make her playing, what may well have been a hymn on the piano in her sitting room, seem like a Heather Humphreys’ party in the Arás might be a bit of craic.
When she took to the podium Heather Humphreys referenced the said Kavanagh and Monaghan when she spoke of the “stony grey soil” of the “diverse” county where she has lived all her life.
She said she wants to “bring my life experience and the values that have shaped me as a person to the office of the President.”
Introducing for the first time the three pillars of her campaign, the former five-times government minister said when it comes to “community” her mission will “not just be to take people to Árás an Uachtaráin but to take the Áras to the people.”
She said she wants to “honour and celebrate the unsung heroes, the volunteers in our communities - whether it’s the Tidy Towns, the GAA, the men’s sheds, our many great women’s organisations; our youth clubs, and many, many more.”
On the second pillar of “unity”, Heather Humphreys said throughout her life she has “always sought to break down barriers and reach out the hand of friendship”.
Just as Margaret Thatcher quoted from a St Francis of Assisi prayer on the steps of 10 Downing Street before she took up office for the next 11 years, and declared “where there is discord may we bring harmony”, Heather Humphreys said she would use the presidency to listen to people and “where there is division try and facilitate reconciliation and understanding.”
Opportunity
Heather Humphreys said her own life story is living proof that, regardless of your background, “Ireland is a country of opportunity”.
The farmer’s wife from Drum paid tribute to the “quiet strength of women” and referenced Kavanagh again when she said her favourite poem is ‘Memory of My Mother’.
Paying tribute to her own mother who “inspired and taught me from an early age that there was no job that I couldn’t do”, Humphreys said as president she wants “every child growing up on this island to know there are no limits to what you can achieve”.
The presidential hopeful said her time as Minister for Business and Enterprise meant she saw “first-hand how interconnected our economy is and how much we gain through our trading relationships with the world”.
As president, Heather Humphreys said she would “work hard to promote our country diplomatically, culturally, and to open the doors for Irish businesses overseas.”
She also made reference to both her protestant faith and the first President of Ireland to come from Ulster, Mary McAleese, when she said: “As a Presbyterian and as a proud Irish Republican, I know the importance of building new bridges between North and South.”
Heather Humphreys used her launch speech to again reiterate a soundbite she has been quoted as saying in the past weeks, which is that she will be a President of integrity but she “cannot promise perfection”. She did, however, also reiterate her promise of “honesty, compassion and service” in office.
The Fine Gael candidate for the presidency ended her official launch speech by thanking her family and welcoming her new grandson into the world.
She said all those present on the day “can only imagine and dream about the changes that baby James Eric McGovern will see over his lifetime as we look to the next 100 years”.
“I want to be a president who will reflect the values of the Irish people and who will help shape the conversation of what those next hundred years will look like,” Heather Humphreys said in closing.