On the last day of the presidential campaign trail, candidate Heather Humphreys spoke at the Women & Agriculture conference, which took place on Thursday 23 October in Radisson Blu Hotel & Spa, Co Sligo.

The Irish presidential election takes place on Friday 24 October.

Heather Humphreys said she would bring a “very deep understanding of rural life” and an understanding of the “challenges” faced by farming and rural communities if she was elected to Áras an Uachtaráin.

When asked why the conference attendees should give Heather Humphreys their vote, she told Irish Country Living: “The best thing to say about me is I’m a very normal person. I come from a farming family.”

Heather Humphreys is 38 years married to her husband Eric, who farms and breeds Hereford cattle.

'Unifying force'

“My mother said to me, there’s no job you can’t do. I always believed that and brought that with me the rest of my life.”

She added that she brings a lot of experience to the job as a minister serving in multiple Government departments.

Throughout the course of the conversation, Humphreys repeated that she would act as a “unifying force” and that would help to bring about a United Ireland. “I have a vision for this country.”

Heather Humphreys said she wants to represent Ireland “culturally”, “diplomatically” and that she wants to see young people to see Ireland as country of “opportunity”.

Addressing the challenges faced by families living in rural Ireland, Heather Humphreys said: “We have been making good inroads into rural Ireland”, adding that remote working has presented many opportunities for rural families, allowing them to enjoy a “work-life balance”.

She said there has been “a lot of investment” in rural Ireland, adding “we have to move with a changing world”.