Independent candidate’s smooth campaign has enthused younger voters but views on Nato and Hamas may concern European allies
The lights dimmed and the youthful crowd packed into Vicar Street, a concert venue in inner-city Dublin, eyes locked on the stage.
The emcee made barbed jokes about Ireland’s government, but there was little need to warm up the audience. The atmosphere was already electric. He launched a chant. “I say Catherine. You say?”
The roared response could have lifted the roof. “Connolly!”
Barring a last-minute political upset, Catherine Connolly, a name unfamiliar to most Irish people just a few months ago, is expected to become Ireland’s next head of state after a presidential election on Friday.
