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Catherine Connolly
Irish politician (born 1957) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Catherine Connolly (born 12 July 1957) is an Irish independent politician who has served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Galway West constituency since 2016. Ideologically on the political left, Connolly was a supporter of the Repeal of the Eighth Amendment in 2018 and has spoken in support of Irish neutrality.
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Originally a Labour Party member of Galway City Council, she was first elected to Galway City Council in 1999 and was Mayor of Galway from 2004 to 2005. She left the party in 2007 in a dispute over candidate selection. After unsuccessfully contesting the 2007 and 2011 general elections in Galway West as an independent, Connolly was elected to the Dáil in 2016. She served as Leas-Cheann Comhairle of the 33rd Dáil from July 2020 to November 2024, and was Cathaoirleach of the Committee on the Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Islands from 2016 to 2020, and again in 2025.
Connolly is an independent candidate in the 2025 Irish presidential election, backed by the Social Democrats, People Before Profit, the Labour Party, 100% Redress and several independent Oireachtas members.
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Early life
Connolly grew up in the suburb of Shantalla, Galway City, one of 14 siblings.[1][2]
Galway politics
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Connolly was first elected to Galway City Council as a Labour Party candidate in the west city local electoral area at the 1999 Galway Corporation election. For the 2004 Galway City Council election, Connolly switched to the south city local electoral area to allow her sister, Colette, to contest the election in the west area of the city;[3][4] both were elected.[5] In the same year she was elected Mayor of Galway. As Mayor, Connolly successfully advocated for and presided over the awarding (in absentia) of the Freedom of Galway City to Myanmar political activist Aung San Suu Kyi in June 2005.[6]
Connolly was a supporter of Michael D. Higgins' unsuccessful campaign to run in the 2004 presidential election;[7] she later voted to nominate Dana Rosemary Scallon for that election.[8] She aimed to run in the 2007 general election as a running mate of Higgins in Galway West, but the party opted to only run one candidate in the constituency. Higgins had reportedly considered retiring due to health concerns, but he allowed his name to go forward to contest the seat again; Connolly criticised Higgins for "dragging his heels" on the decision,[9][10] describing the decision to only run him as "crazy" and saying the party "lost out on a great opportunity".[11] She left the Labour Party and contested the 2007 general election as an independent candidate, polling just over 2,000 votes.[12]
Colette, who had lost her seat as a Labour councillor in 2014,[13] was co-opted as an independent to replace Catherine on Galway City Council when she was elected a TD.[14]
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National politics
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Connolly contested the 2011 general election again in Galway West,[15] where she lost out on the last seat to Fine Gael's Seán Kyne by only 17 votes. She sought a full recount,[16] which concluded after four days but did not change the outcome.[17]
She was elected to the Dáil for the Galway West constituency at the 2016 general election.[18]
She voted for Richard Boyd Barrett for Taoiseach when the 32nd Dáil first met.[19] At the 32nd Dáil's second meeting on 5 April 2016, she made her maiden speech in which she criticised the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government Alan Kelly's handling of Ireland's homelessness crisis.[20] Connolly sat on the Public Accounts Committee and was Chair of the Committee on the Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Islands.
In 2018 Connolly joined Clare Daly, Mick Wallace and Maureen O'Sullivan on a visit to Damascus, Maaloula and Aleppo in Syria.[21][22][23] When launching her 2025 presidential campaign she defended this trip, commenting that she funded the trip herself and that she did not "utter one word of support for Assad".[24] However, Politico observed that Connolly also refrained from criticising Assad at that time.[25]
Connolly contested the 2020 general election and was re-elected on the 12th count.[26]
Leas-Cheann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann (2020–2024)
Connolly was elected the Leas-Cheann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann on 23 July 2020, in a surprise victory over Fine Gael candidate Fergus O'Dowd, becoming the first woman to hold the position.[27]
In January 2021, Connolly criticised the Government for their handling of the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation (Mother and Baby Homes and certain related matters). Referring to the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth as the "three unwise men", she was critical of the Government's failure to provide survivors of mother and baby homes the report before it was released to the general public.[28] Connolly stated: "This document I have to hand is what the report looks like. I hold it up to show survivors because they do not have it. It is the executive summary with the recommendations and one or two other things. Not a single survivor has it. I have it since yesterday, when it was put in the pigeonholes of Deputies."[28]
In June 2023 Connolly appeared alongside Clare Daly, Mick Wallace, Mairéad Farrell and George Galloway in a "Neutrality forum" hosted by the organisation "Galway Alliance Against War" where the topic for discussion was the Russo-Ukrainian War.[29]
In May 2024, during the campaign for the 2024 European Parliament election, Connolly endorsed Clare Daly in the Dublin constituency.[30]
2025 presidential campaign
On 11 July 2025, Connolly announced she would seek nomination as a candidate in the 2025 presidential election. The Social Democrats immediately declared their support for her nomination.[31] Additionally, Connolly is backed by People Before Profit, 100% Redress and several independent members of the Oireachtas.[32][33] She launched her bid for the presidency on 16 July.[34]
On 17 July, members of the Irish-Syria Solidarity Movement asked the Labour Party not to support Connolly's campaign due to her 2018 Syrian trip,[35] while on 18 July, councillor Jimmy Guerin (brother of assassinated journalist Veronica Guerin), stated that Connolly was unsuitable choice for President due to her "grave error" in supporting Gemma O'Doherty's 2018 presidential nomination bid. Connolly had backed O'Doherty's attempt to get on the ballot, citing O'Doherty's past work in investigative journalism while distancing herself from O'Doherty's views. Guerin was particularly critical given O'Doherty's later far-right activism and her repeated claims that the State was involved in Veronica Guerin's murder.[36] Connolly responded, "I didn't know [O'Doherty] personally, but I knew her role, and I gave her a nomination when the time came. That didn't mean I was supporting her. My judgment call was right at the time. Do I regret what's happened in relation to her? Absolutely. Do I support her in any way? Not at all".[36]
On 31 July, Connolly secured the backing and the support of the Labour Party, bringing a further 13 Oireachtas members into her camp.[37]
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Political views
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Described by media sources as a left-wing independent,[38][22][25][39] in May 2025 the Phoenix described Connolly as a "long-time socialist" who had been regarded as "left-wing" and an "Irish republican" during her time in Labour.[40] Clare Daly and Mick Wallace have been identified as political allies of Connolly, with Connolly officially endorsing Daly in her 2024 European re-election campaign.[25][30][41]
Connolly opposed the ratification of the Treaty of Nice in the 2002 referendum,[42] and the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon in both referendums.[43][44] She supported the 2013 referendum on Irish court reform, saying the passing of the referendum "renewed her faith in democracy".[45]
In 2018 Connolly supported the repeal of the eighth amendment which allowed the Oireachtas to legislate for abortion,[46] supporting the legalisation of abortion up to 12 weeks.[47]
In April 2025, Connolly was amongst objectors to the creation of an off-shore wind farm off the coast of County Galway and County Clare.[48]
Foreign affairs
In 2025, Politico characterised Connolly's foreign policy views as pro-neutrality, "often anti-western", and anti-NATO, while also highlighting her "trenchant" criticism of Israel.[25] In April 2025 Connolly said in the Dáil "I challenge all of us to stand up and stop the genocide taking place in our name, because we are complicit"[41] while the following July, she called Israel a "genocidal state" amidst the Gaza war.[22] While Mayor of Galway from 2004 to 2005, Connolly spoke in opposition to the Iraq War.[49] In 2017, she spoke in the Dáil against sanctions on Syria.[23] In 2022, during a Dáil debate on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Connolly claimed that "NATO has played a despicable role in moving forward to the border and engaging in warmongering. Ireland has been hypocritical on many levels".[41]
Connolly has expressed concerns about Irish neutrality being challenged;[50] in 2025, she said that Ireland's peace was threatened "by the war-mongering military industrial complex"[51]
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Personal life
Originally from Shantalla, Connolly has lived in the Claddagh since 1988, and is married with two children. A barrister by profession, she also previously worked as a clinical psychologist, with the Western Health Board in Ballinasloe, Galway and Connemara. She is a Gaeilgeoir.[52]
References
External links
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