Catherine Connolly is 68 years old, that is two years younger than Michael D Higgins when he first entered office, but 22 years older than Mary Robinson, Ireland’s youngest president, who was 46 when she became the first woman president of Ireland.
Ms Connolly is serving her third term as an Independent TD for Galway West, having first entered the Dáil in 2016.
She grew up in Shantalla, a suburb of Galway, as one of 14 children, her father was a carpenter and boat-builder, and she has been pictured alongside striking examples of his work in her constituency office.
Ms Connolly has a master’s degree in clinical psychology from the University of Leeds in 1981, and in 1989, she earned a law degree from the University of Galway and became a barrister-at-law in 1991. She is married to Brian, and they have two adult sons.
Ms Connolly first entered local politics in 1999 as a Labour Party councillor in Galway city, becoming mayor of Galway five years later.
However, she left Labour in 2006 after it decided not to run a second candidate alongside Michael D Higgins for the Dáil elections the following year.
Ms Connolly unsuccessfully ran for election in 2007, polling just 2,000 votes, but she ran again in 2011, polling higher, but ultimately losing out to Fine Gael’s Sean Kyne by just 17 votes.
In 2016, Ms Connolly was elected as an Independent TD for Galway West for the first time, and went on to nominate Richard Boyd Barrett as taoiseach.
In her maiden Dáil speech, she criticised then-housing minister Alan Kelly’s record on homelessness.
Ms Connolly sat on the Public Accounts Committee and was chair of the Committee on the Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Islands.
After her re-election in 2020, she went on to be elected as Leas Ceann Comhairle, the first woman to hold the position.
She has the backing of all of the left-leaning parties in the Oireachtas; the Social Democrats, Labour, People Before Profit-Solidarity, the Green Party and latterly, Sinn Féin.
There have been two issues that have dogged Ms Connolly’s campaign; a trip she took to Syria with then-TDs Clare Daly, Mick Wallace and Maureen O’Sullivan in 2018, and her nomination of former journalist Gemma O’Doherty for president in the same year.
She has been asked repeatedly about both, eventually telling RTÉ's This Week that it was "certainly" a mistake to meet a supporter of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad during the trip.
However, she defended the context of the trip, saying it was a fact-finding mission, and pointed to the fact that Micheál Martin had met with Assad.
Regarding her decision to nominate Ms O'Doherty for the presidency in 2018, she said: "When the presidential election comes up all TDs and senators are faced with the dilemma who to nominate.
"It's not the same as supporting someone. I did not and do not support Gemma O'Doherty, but I made a decision to be one of many nominees to give her a chance to stand."
Ahead of the Family and Care referendums, Ms Connolly said she would support the Family referendum, but voted against the Care referendum, telling the Dáil that the proposed new article "with no enforceable rights"
She added: "It confines caring to within the family and it seeks to recognise the care that family members give to one another by reason of the bonds that exist between them. I cannot describe anything weaker or worse".
One recurring theme in Ms Connolly’s political career has been her commitment to neutrality.
Last April, she joined members of People Before Profit and the Social Democrats under the umbrella of the Irish Neutrality League, calling for the preservation of the triple lock.
She said she was "sick, sore and tired" of the prevailing commentary that Ireland was freeloading on other EU member states when it came to defence.
She said: "I don't look on the world through that lens. Yes, we have wars that shouldn't be happening. We have had a tradition of neutrality, and there's an onus on all of us, ...to question, what is happening?
"How are we going this direction? How are we now getting ready in the Dáil to pass legislation that will get rid of the triple lock?
"The triple lock that's been part of our policy of neutrality for a very long time?"
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She has long been a staunch supporter of Palestine, and recently said she would visit Palestine as president, if elected.
"We are witnessing a genocide. I hoped I would never have to say such words in my lifetime. As president I would travel to Palestine to show my support and solidarity and that of the Irish people to the people of Palestine," she said.
Listen back: Both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes - Catherine Connolly
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Speaking to the BBC, Ms Connolly criticised British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's comment that Hamas should have no role in a future Palestinian state, saying the militant group is "part of the fabric of the Palestinian people".
After the remarks drew criticism from some quarters, Ms Connolly moved to clarify the statement, telling RTÉ's Morning Ireland: "[Hamas] were elected by the people the last time there was an election, overwhelming support for them back in 2006 or 2007. And they are part of the civil society of Palestine".
She added: "What they did was absolutely unacceptable. Both sides have committed war crimes and hopefully both sides will be held to account.
"But history did not start on the 7 October and at some stage parties outside of Palestine and Israel must begin to look at what has led to this conflict and how it can be resolved and resolved it must."
According to her campaign, Ms Connolly wants to be "a president for all the people, especially for those often excluded and silenced".
"She wants to be a voice for equality and justice and for the defence of neutrality as an active, living tradition of peace-making, bridge-building, and compassionate diplomacy," her campaign said.
