Great day for Left.. but they've long way to go to prove they can rule

CONGRATULATIONS to our new President elect Catherine Connolly and her weekend landslide victory.

- JOHN KIERANS

I have no doubt the people of Ireland will unite behind her when she takes office and she will, as she says herself, be a President for all the people.

It was a great day for the Left and shows what can be achieved when Sinn Fein, the Social Democrats, Labour and People Before Profit work together.

But if I was them I wouldn't be losing the run of myself just yet. They have a lot to do to convince the country that they are fit for office.

There were people in middle-class areas across Dublin voting for Connolly who will never in a month of Sundays vote for People Before Profit in a General Election.

That is the task facing a united Left, convincing the silent majority of middle Ireland that they have the policies, the determination and will to make Ireland a better place without wrecking the economy like Labour has in Britain.

They want to drop any notion of a wealth tax and that they don't punish the people who get up early in the mornings and pay the vast bulk of the tax that keeps Ireland going.

They need to forget about rewarding the dole-sponging layabouts who've never done a day’s work in their lives yet can go drinking and gambling every day.