The two candidates for the presidency of Ireland have made pitches to undecided voters in the final TV debate of the campaign.
Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys and her rival, Catherine Connolly, a left wing independent TD, faced off in RTE’s Prime Time on Tuesday evening.
The set-piece aired three days before voters across the Republic of Ireland go to the polls on Friday to elect a successor to outgoing president Michael D Higgins.
Former cabinet minister Ms Humphreys opened the debate by condemning the violence that flared on Tuesday evening elsewhere in Dublin outside a hotel that houses asylum seekers.
Turning to why she believed she would make a good president, Ms Humphreys said she would strive to “unite people”.
“I bring a lot of experience to the job,” she said.
“I’m a mother, I’m a grandmother and I have three young grandchildren, and when I look at them, I look and I want to see what kind of a country I want this to be.
“I want it to be an inclusive country. I wanted to be a respectful country, and I want it to be a country where they are safe. As, I said, I bring a lot of experience. I’m a centre ground person. I’m a middle of the road person, like most Irish people.
“I’m not to the far left, I’m not to the far right.
“So, I’m saying to the people at home tonight: please consider me to be your next president and I promise that I will not let you down. I do not promise perfection, but what I do promise is I promise honesty, I promise compassion and I promise service.”
Setting out her stall, Ms Connolly insisted she represented a “different type of Ireland” as she characterised Ms Humphreys as a “more of the same” candidate aligned with the outlook of recent governments.
“I look forward to serving as president of this country,” said the Galway TD.
“It will be an absolute privilege to do that. And I say to the people who are listening and watching that I will do so with humility and with pride, and I will serve the people of Ireland to the best of my ability.
“What makes me different? Well, all women find it difficult to say, ‘I’ but I believe that I have the characteristics to make a president.
“I have the characteristics that reflect what people value in Ireland: care, compassion, solidarity, standing with those that have less, are less well-off than ourselves. I represent a different type of Ireland.
“Unfortunately, Heather is more of the same in relation to what the governments have done repeatedly over the years.
“I will be an absolute independent president with an independent mind.”