Heather Humphreys: From a rural farm on the border to a presidential bid
By Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA
Heather Humphreys is a Presbyterian who was raised on a rural farm near the border and became a popular minister who made a bid for the Presidency.
The 64-year-old mother-of-two met her husband Eric, a farmer, at a local dance, and they have several grandchildren including James, who was born in the weeks before polling day.
She grew up on a farm outside a village called Drum, located at the Cavan-Monaghan border.
She, her parents and two younger brothers lived on the farm with her paternal grandparents.
From a young age they fed calves, dug potatoes, and handled hay bales, which her father made smaller so she and her siblings could lift them.
Her grandfather signed the Ulster Covenant, a document opposing Home Rule in 1912, and her father was a member of the Orange Order.
On a podcast with former president Mary McAleese earlier this year, Ms Humphreys said of her grandfather’s decision that it was the norm for the Protestant population and there was a fear of change.
She said she has a unique understanding of different traditions on the island of Ireland, and has described her experience of growing up near the border.
She attended a small primary school, which had one teacher and around 15 pupils, in Drum.
When offered a choice between a secondary school in Monaghan or a boarding school in Cavan, she threatened to run away if she was sent to the boarding school.
She said when the Troubles started, her mother told her before she attended secondary school to “keep your head down, keep your mouth shut and don’t be bringing trouble on your family”.
After school she took an aptitude test for a job at Ulster Bank, after which she remembers gathering potatoes with her father and thinking if she got the job she would never have to do it again.
She said she became a bank manager and in 1999 became the manager of Cootehill Credit Union, which gave her the freedom to get involved in politics.
She said local Fine Gael TD Seymour Crawford approached her in 2003 about replacing him on Monaghan County Council.
She was elected as a councillor in 2004 and re-elected in 2009, and later became a TD for Cavan-Monaghan from 2011 until 2024.
She has served as a minister for the arts, heritage and the Gaeltacht, as minister for business for more than two years, and as minister for social protection and rural and community development.
She has described the hot school meals programme, which gives primary school pupils a meal a day, as one of her proudest achievements, as well as securing a pension auto-enrolment scheme for Ireland, which she described as “like pushing a stone up a hill”.
She also led the sensitively-handled centenary celebrations of the 1916 Easter Rising, and steered the government’s response for support for businesses during Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.
She announced last year that she would not contest the general election in November, stating she was burned out and needed a rest.
Her presidential campaign, which began after Fine Gael’s Mairead McGuinness pulled out due to health reasons, has been run on the theme of “unity, community and opportunity”.
She has emphasised her stance as a centre-ground, pro-business, pro-EU candidate who will “build bridges” with both communities in Northern Ireland.
She has received the endorsement of former Taoiseach's Enda Kenny and Bertie Ahern, current Taoiseach Micheál Martin, three former Tánaiste, and Irish music star Daniel O’Donnell.
