Why Irish Executives Should Refrain from Endorsing Political Candidates.

It's not just your job on the line.

So there you are. You’ve suited up, you’ve boned up on your corporate speak about ‘synergising forward-looking paradigms,’ and you’re ready to sell your soul to that most peculiar of Hibernian beasts: the commercial semi-state. This entity believes it’s possible to be a little bit capitalist and a little bit statist at the same time. You walk into the panel. And it’s not your usual trio of bored HR drones and a man whose sole personality is his tie. No. This is an Irish parable. Seated before you, like a tribunal that’s just run out of other people to make findings against, is a veritable coalition of the unwilling: a Shinner, a Soc-Dem, and a Labourite. One wants to nationalise your shoes, the other wants to apologise for your shoes’ problematic history, and the third looks tired from carrying the guilt of your shoes for the last hundred years.

They will, with all the grim efficiency of an Offaly man stacking turf, run through your qualifications. Your experience. What you can “bring to the role.” This is the appetiser. The warm-up act. The part where they check your professional pulse.

Then comes the main course. The raison d'être for this whole political menagerie. The air will be sucked out of the poorly ventilated room. The Labour guy will look at his shoes. The Soc-Dem will look at her nails. The Shinner will lean forward, a look of serene, revolutionary patience on his face.

And they will ask you The Question. Not about market fluctuations or operational logistics. Oh no. They want to know why—in the name of all that is holy and subsidised—why you once stood on a digital soapbox (LinkedIn probably) and loudly, publicly, endorsed Him. That candidate. The one who subsequently turned out to be a walking, talking compendium of poor life choices and front-page scandals.

They will phrase it in the gentle, concerned language of committee-room inquiry: “Would you say that showed a grave error in judgment?”

What they mean is: You pinned your colours to a mast that turned out to be not just rotten, but on fire, covered in hornets, and being investigated by a state tribunal. You backed a horse that wasn’t just a loser, it was a three-legged, glue-factory that tried to kick their favourite candidate up and down the ballot box. In a nation obsessed with political allegiances, you chose… poorly.

This isn’t an interview. It’s an inquisition into your discernment, your publicly professed tribal instincts.

In today’s polarised political environment, the line between personal beliefs and professional responsibilities is increasingly blurred. Business leaders hold powerful platforms, and their words and actions carry significant weight. While it may be tempting for executives to endorse political candidates, doing so can bring serious risks to their companies, brands, and themselves.

The pitfalls of executives endorsing a candidate.