Bradley Bytes – A sort of political column by Dara Bradley

The establishment sniggered in September when Sinn Féin threw its weight behind Independent Catherine Connolly’s Presidential bid.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael scoffed when the republican party’s leader Mary Lou McDonald called the decision a game-changer.

In a page-one Sunday Independent article on September 21, headlined ‘Relief in Coalition as Sinn Féin opts to back Connolly’, unnamed sources from both Government parties talked down the significance of a united left candidate.

Maybe it was ignorance. It certainly smacked of arrogance. It was disrespectful, too.

The two main parties either woefully underestimated Connolly’s potential, or they recognised the threat she posed to their hegemony but deliberately downplayed it to convey calm.

By then, the Galway West TD had already built a massive grassroots movement that eventually grew to 15,000-plus volunteers.

And she was already backed by People Before Profit, Labour Party and........

© Connacht Tribune