The Galway West TD’s staff say they are pleasantly surprised that sales of t-shirts and sweatshirts with the Connolly campaign’s eye-catching design are completely sold out in all sizes, but they are hurriedly restocking.
Deputy Connolly’s website has sold more than 250 t-shirts, 150 sweatshirts, 140 cloth tote bags and more than 1,000 pin badges. Volunteers say a limited edition scarf and print will go on sale this week.
The Connolly Campaign’s logo is inspired by traditional Irish signwriting seen on pubs and shops – especially in rural Ireland – and a similar typeface appears on her constituency office in Galway city centre.
Some commentators suggested Connolly’s sign-writing design was a copy of US progressive Zohran Mamdani’s campaign logos in his bid to become mayor of New York, but staffers point to the “flourishes of Celtic interlace” and nods to Old Irish fonts reminiscent of the late nineteenth-century Celtic Revival when Irish signwriting design diverged from British and European styles.
The design featured prominently on national news outlets this week with a historic photo of Irish politicians representing the left uniting to support Catherine Connolly under a giant campaign banner: Paul Murphy TD (PBP ), Senator Eileen Flynn (Ind ), Holly Cairns TD (SD ), Marie Sherlock TD (Lab ), Mary Lou McDonald TD (SF ). Two – Flynn and Cairns – sported Connolly campaign sweatshirts.
The presidential hopeful told RTÉ this week her grassroots campaign has raised €130,000 so far – a huge jump from €100,000 last week.
Sinn Féin, by far Ireland’s wealthiest political party with a reported €7m in its bank account, last week announced it will back Catherine Connolly, although it remains unclear if this will include a cash injection before the October 24 election.
Connolly formally submitted her nomination papers to the Presidential Returning Officer at Dublin’s Custom House on Tuesday.
