The inauguration is over and Catherine Connolly is Uachtarán na hÉireann and presumably had a great shindig in the Áras last night. She looked great in her purple outfit, and says that Gaeilge will be the working language of the Áras.
Is maith é sin a chloistéail. Mar a dhúirt sí fhéin aréir agus mar a dhúirt an Piarsach ón tús: tír gan teanga, tír gan anam. She also said that Gaeilge, our ancient language, the language of our ancestors and the language which resonates with the spirit of our ancestors and of our landscape, has for too long been pushed into second place, and denied the respect it deserves.
Strong sentiments, which I happen to agree with, because I am not so small-minded that I cannot find something of value in what Catherine Connolly says, even though I disagree with much of her politics and I was one of an unprecedented number of people – 213,738 of us in total – who spoiled our votes to send a message in that facade of a two-horse race.
Connolly says she wants to be a unifying President, a President for All, to use the language of NGOs and press advisers. Leaving aside the fact that more of the electorate either spoiled their vote or abstained than voted for anyone, let’s take that at face value. Here’s three actions an tUachtarán could take to genuinely embrace those who are, to use her own words, left out of the dominant narrative.
A triumphant Mary Lou McDonald spent the day of the results telling everyone that Catherine Connolly’s victory was “stunning” – and it has generally been described as a landslide. However, in the new President’s heart, she must know that this was a most peculiar race, and that the majority of people voted neither for her or for Heather Humphreys, and that, further, more than 200,000 people were so angry, dismayed or upset at the state of both the ballot or the country that they spoiled their vote.
Every President wants to feel they have a mandate, even though the President’s role is actually supposed to be predominantly ceremonial, a reality ignored by her predecessor.
“As President of Ireland, I will ensure that all voices are represented, heard and valued, and promote a public discourse that nourishes inclusivity, tolerance and active citizenship,” Catherine Connolly said yesterday. The massive Spoil the Vote response was an demonstration of active citizenship: a decision to speak up rather than simply not participate, and to do so in an election for an office that supposes to represent the entire country. Surely what those voters have to say should be of interest to an tUachtarán?
An opening move to ensure voices are heard and valued then, would be to invite representatives of the Spoil the Vote initiative up to the Áras. While it was largely a grassroots initiative, and certainly gathered steam after the profoundly shocking alleged serious sexual assault on a 10-year-old girl in Citywest, figures such as Malachy Steenson, Elaine Mulally, Paul Treyvaud and Declan Ganley were certainly engaged in a high-profile way. There would be no shortage of representatives who could attend.
The President could also invite along Maria Steen and Nick Delehanty and Gareth Sheridan and discuss how to make the race for the Áras more open and inclusive going forward. It could be a delightful afternoon tea or garden party. Ócáid iontach agus ionchuimsitheach.
2. Speak for the most vulnerable and victimised in society today: preborn children
Since the all-singing and dancing celebrations of Repeal in 2018 – a full-throated exultation for removing the right to life from helpless preborn children – at least 58,000 babies have had their lives summarily ended before birth, according to statistics from the Department of Health and estimates for the number of abortions thus far in 2025.
Catherine Connolly spoke in her inaugural speech of a desire that Ireland should not be a country that closes our eyes to realities, yet the Irish media, and in particular the taxpayer-funded national broadcaster, strain and labour to ignore the dreadful reality of Ireland’s spiraling abortion rates, which began with 6,666 abortions in 2019 and has now climbed to almost 11,000 in 2024 alone.
The scale of the loss of life is devastating: it amounts to 2,600 classrooms of children that never got to draw breath. “Our actions or inaction will determine the world our children and grandchildren will inherit,” the President said yesterday in relation to war, famine and climate change. Can’t the same be said of abortion, where women are all too-often made to feel they have no choice, where the government simply shrugs its shoulders or attacks those who offer to help both mother and child, and where there will be far fewer children to inherit the earth because so many have been aborted because their right to life was stripped away in the name of choice?
Catherine Connolly could show genuine inclusivity and compassion – and yes, genuine radical courage too – by being a voice for those who are now subject to such deadly discrimination and exclusion. She could champion the organisations who struggle to offer life-affirming support to women with unexpected pregnancies. She could lead one of those national conversations we’re always supposed to be having on something that actually speaks to whether we do, in fact, cherish all our children and celebrate our heritage.
That would be a bold move. Thaispéanach sé gur bean chróga í an tUachtarán nua.
3. Meet with the 82% who have immigration concerns
If you want to be a President for All then where better to begin than with an issue on which there is, according to polls, not just historic levels of agreement but an enormous disconnect between the political establishment and the ordinary person.
That issue, is of course, immigration and the government’s reckless, foolish, undemocratic management of same. The most recent poll by the Sunday Independent showed that 82% of people feel that the government is not doing enough to address immigration, and before that huge majorities told pollsters that they feel Ireland is taking in too many migrants.
Yet the people who have spoken up on this issue – often from working class areas or from small rural towns – have been ignored or shouted down, vilified, and even pepper-sprayed and beaten, by the government and its agents. The current immigration policy has been forced through at the point of a baton in small communities like Dundrum in Co Tipperary. That is a disgrace. The concerns of ordinary people have been dismissed as racism and pure badness. It would be nice to have a President who actually listened to the people on this issue and articulated their concerns – who spoke up against the dominant voice, to use Catherine Connolly’s words, which has beaten down dissent.
“I have never believed more in the spirit of this country. Having travelled the length and breadth of the island, I have witnessed it in every county, in every corner of Ireland. I have heard it in the music, the literature and the dance of our people, in the deep tradition of solidarity and decency that continues to be the dominant force behind our people. I have felt it in the quiet dignity and stoicism of those who simply keep going, despite the very real challenges that they face,” the President said yesterday.
She could do the office of President, and its credibility, a great service by meeting with those who have been demonised but who represent the vast majority of decent Irish people who do not want to end up a minority on their own country. Let them come from Santry and Dundrum, from Macroom and Rosslare, from anywhere were people feel unrepresented, and make them welcome in the Áras.
Tús maith leath na hoibre, mar a deirtear. Do I think the new President might do all or any of the above? Should we believe she can rise above the liberal intolerance which seems to be the hallmark of the new liberal left? We can only hope for some genuine open-mindedness and inclusivity, I suppose.