Minister is exiting politics amid warm affection from the real world. Her advice about ignoring social media is instructive
Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys: Her recent interview detailed how stress, strain and time away from home has taken a toll. Photograph: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie
“She’s a very popular woman now but my God now I am shocked – aah, a pity now”; “We’ll really feel the impact when she goes… People here don’t know the work she’s done behind the scenes…”; “She was a major asset to this area, major, especially to this town. She will be missed.”Don’t write off Gráinne Seoige.
Which leaves the possibility that Heather Humphreys is what she appears to be in that vox pop: a politician in a Border county, a Presbyterian and an Irish republican, who is sincerely well-liked and respected by all sides. And just as surprisingly, in a time when it’s deeply uncool to support a centrist politician, people are unabashed about saying it out loud.
Listening to a woman as strong, successful, no-nonsense and self-assured as Humphreys talk about the pressures of a politician’s life, it’s hard to square the relentless intrusive nature of it with any sense of a normal life as most of us know it, especially for a rural politician. Humphreys doesn’t agitate about the relentless social media abuse or the more aggressive environment, only because she simply ignores it, apparently.
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