Humphreys takes a swing at rival over delay in ruling out whether she'd hire sex offender

HEATHER Humphreys took a swing at her opponent Catherine Connolly as she showed off her feisty side for the first time in a presidential debate.

- BY CIARA O'LOUGHLIN

The Aras hopefuls took part in their first debate since Fianna Fail’s candidate Jim Gavin pulled out of the race.

They spoke to RTE Radio 1 Drivetime presenters Sarah McInerney and Cormac O hEadhra at 5pm yesterday.

The Fine Gael candidate aimed at her opponent in relation to comments she made about whether she would hire a convicted rapist in the Aras.

Yesterday, Ms Connolly said she would “absolutely not” hire anyone on the sex offenders list after failing to answer the question the previous day.

However, when asked on Wednesday by Newstalk if she would hire a convicted rapist to work in the Aras, the Independent candidate said she would “have to think about it”.