Quote:The presidency is a largely ceremonial office but Connolly’s triumph is a humbling rebuke to the centre-right government.

Quote:Anger over a housing crisis and the cost of living, campaign blunders by Fine Gael and its ruling partner Fianna Fáil, rare unity among leftwing parties and deft use of social media combined to make Connolly a symbol of change.

The prospect of Connolly succeeding President Michael D Higgins and serving a seven-year term at Áras an Uachtaráin, the presidential residence, thrills supporters. She speaks Irish, espouses equality and wishes to ringfence Irish neutrality from what she calls western “militarism”. She has likened Germany’s arms spending to the Nazi era and accused the UK and US of enabling genocide in Gaza.