"Ivan Yates is a commentator, and he hasn't been in Fine Gael for the last 25 years, and he's certainly not advising me on my campaign. He's entitled to say what he thinks himself. He's no more involved in my campaign than Joe Brolly is involved in Catherine Connolly's campaign. So I won't be a candidate that's going to smear anybody, but I will ask the hard questions, and I have already a number of issues that I think Catherine needs to clarify."
"We all know the rules are very clear, you must have Garda vetting. We talk about trying to unite people in this country, we're talking about a united Ireland. Eirigi are the very people that tried to pull down the Good Friday Agreement. I really do believe she needs to answer those questions, but those are straight questions, and that's acceptable in any campaign. These are the questions that will be debated during the campaign, but I certainly won't be smearing anybody."
Ms Humphreys canvassed in Co Tipperary while independent Ms Connolly met with people in counties Waterford and Wexford. Ms Connolly said she was "absolutely shocked" by Ivan Yates's comments and said they "trivialised" the election campaign. Ms Humphreys said Ivan Yates had not been in Fine Gael for 25 years and was not advising her campaign, and that she would not smear anybody but would ask hard questions. She raised concerns about allowing a woman with a Special Criminal Court conviction access to the Dáil pending Garda clearance and about a €3,691 parliamentary allowance trip to Syria in 2018. Ms Humphreys thanked Taoiseach Micheál Martin for saying he would vote for her.
Read at Irish Independent
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