Catherine Connolly was sworn in as the tenth president (and the third woman president) of the Republic of Ireland on November 11, succeeding Michael D. Higgins, who had completed the constitutionally mandated limit of two terms of office.
Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message to his Irish counterpart on her assumption of office and noted that over the past 46 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Ireland, the two countries have jointly achieved remarkable development progress through mutual learning and friendly cooperation.
Xi said that he attaches great importance to the development of China-Ireland relations and stands ready to work with Connolly to enhance political mutual trust, carry forward the traditional friendship, jointly support multilateralism and free trade and promote the continuous development of the China-Ireland mutually beneficial strategic partnership to better benefit the two peoples.
Catherine Connolly, an Independent TD (member of the Irish parliament) since 2016, won a landslide victory, taking 63 percent of the vote. Key to her victory was an unprecedented unity among broad sections of the Irish left, something that is already being seen as a template for, and harbinger of, a future left government in Ireland, as well as holding important lessons for the left in Europe and elsewhere.
Seven parties represented in the Irish parliament united to back her campaign, namely Sinn Féin, the Irish Labour Party, the Social Democrats, People Before Profit, 100% Redress, Solidarity, and the Green Party. (Incidentally the first three named parties backing the election of Ireland’s third woman president are also currently led by women.) They were joined by a number of left and progressive independents (many of whom play significant roles in Irish politics), as well as cultural and other personalities, including Kneecap and (from a previous generation and from Connolly’s own County Galway) the Saw Doctors. A number of smaller left and republican parties, including the Communist Party of Ireland, Éirígí – For A New Republic, the Workers’ Party of Ireland and the Socialist Party of Ireland, also expressed support for her campaign.
Connolly stood on a clear anti-imperialist and pro-working-class platform, which included:
- Defence of Irish neutrality;
- Opposition to imperialist war, the militarisation of the European Union and German rearmament;
- Opposition to the Gaza genocide and clear support for Palestinian self-determination and a Free Palestine;
- Support for Irish reunification and an end to partition as an inevitable trend;
- Promotion of the Irish language;
- Opposition to racism; and
- Urgent measures to tackle the housing crisis, which is one of the most acute problems currently faced by working people in Ireland.
Her campaign made astute use of social media and won wide support from young people, including through highlighting the 68-year-old’s sporting prowess.
Speaking at her inauguration, President Connolly said:
“The people have spoken and have given their President a powerful mandate to articulate their vision for a new Republic.
“A Republic worthy of its name where everyone is valued and diversity is cherished, where sustainable solutions are urgently implemented and where a home is a fundamental human right.
“The change that led to this joyful day began with a small group of elected representatives and volunteers facing what appeared to be insurmountable challenges.
“We were led to believe that it was too great a leap, that our ideas were too far out, too left, at odds with the prevailing narrative.
“In shared conversations all over the country, however, it became evident that the dominant narrative did not reflect or represent people’s values and concerns… We saw the emergence of hope, we saw the emergence of joy, along with the courage and determination of people to use their voices to shape a country that we can be proud of.”
She continued: “As I assume the privilege of office, we face the existential threat of climate change and the threat of ongoing wars, both of course are inextricably linked.
“As I speak, I am acutely conscious of the 165 million people currently forcibly displaced from their homes and countries due to war, famine and climate change…
“These are the challenges of our times, and our actions or inaction will determine the world our children and grandchildren will inherit…
“Given our history, the normalisation of war and genocide has never been and will never be acceptable to us.
“As a sovereign independent nation with a long and cherished tradition of neutrality and an uninterrupted record of peacekeeping since 1958, Ireland is particularly well placed to lead and articulate alternative diplomatic solutions to conflict and war.
“Indeed, our experience of colonisation and resistance, of a catastrophic man-made Famine and forced emigration gives us a lived understanding of dispossession, hunger and war and a mandate for Ireland to lead.”
On the question of national reunification, she said: “I am particularly conscious of Article 3 of the Constitution, which sets out in detail the firm wish of the Irish people, the Irish nation to have a united Ireland, albeit in the conditions set out very clearly in the Article on consent,” and moving to her conclusion added:
“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 full text of her speech may be read here.
During the first Cold War, imperialist spokespersons repeatedly warned that a victory for the forces of national liberation in Ireland would lead to the creation of a second Cuba or Angola on Britain’s “doorstep”.
With the advent of the new Cold War, such bellicose talk has been increasingly revived and repurposed with a focus on Russia and China, along with the Irish people’s unwavering solidarity with and support for their Palestinian sisters and brothers. This campaign has in turn been further ramped up as Connolly transitioned from rank outsider to near certain winner.
Writing for Consortium News, New Zealand journalist Mick Hall noted:
“A former White House national security advisor, Robert C. O’Brien, writing in ‘The Wall Street Journal’ last week, warned the Trump administration would ‘no longer tolerate countries that reap the benefits of America’s economic strength and military power, while pursuing policies that undermine American interests.’
“‘Ireland’s President-elect embodies the antagonism towards American interests,’ he wrote, adding:
“‘Ireland is finding its voice in international affairs, but it’s one that seems increasingly hostile to US interests. Ireland is the most antagonistic country to Israel in the Western world … Ireland was one of the first Western democracies to recognise a Palestinian state unilaterally, and it is at the forefront of allegations of ‘genocide’ against Israel. Meanwhile Dublin courts Chinese investment with no mention of Beijing’s human rights record, economic coercion or regional aggression.’”
In his ‘Wall Street Journal’ op-ed, O’Brien also criticised Ireland’s “pitiful investment” on defence:
“Ireland lacks key technical defences, like radar systems and efficient cyber and human intelligence networks, leaving the country open to espionage and cyberattacks from Russia, China and extremist nonstate actors.”
Such claims were also taken up with a vengeance by a former senior NATO commander and naval expert who, in a briefing to politicians from both houses of the UK parliament, said that a united Ireland would pose a strategic threat.
An October 23 article in the Irish Times reported: “The loss of the protection afforded by the North would deepen the threat to Britain from Russia and China, Rear Admiral Chris Parry told MPs and members of the House of Lords in a briefing on Wednesday.
“Mr Parry, a Falklands War veteran, also said he believed Chinese warships and submarines would soon be active in Irish waters alongside the Russian vessels that had been operating there in recent years.
“He told parliamentarians that NATO should counter the threat from Moscow and Beijing by holding naval exercises in Irish-controlled waters, whether Dublin agreed or not… Mr Parry, who has worked as a military consultant since 2008, told the politicians the Republic was ’strategically irrelevant as long as the UK maintains Northern Ireland’, giving the United Kingdom a base to police North Sea waters on approach routes to Scotland.
“He said the Republic was relevant now only in the sense that it had ‘vulnerabilities’ that could be exploited by Russia and China in any conflict with the West.”
He further mentioned, “the threat to undersea communication cables in Irish waters, as well as the likelihood… that Russia or China could launch missiles at Britain from off Ireland’s west coast.
“‘The basic problem is that the Republic is incapable of policing its own economic zone,’ he said, referring to the waters extending up to 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) off the coast in which the State has exclusive rights to manage from an economic perspective, but through which the vessels of other nations can legally transit under international maritime law…
“‘Ireland becomes very important strategically if Northern Ireland is absorbed into the Republic.’
“He said the North Channel, the strait between Northern Ireland and Scotland, was critical to Britain’s deployment of its ‘strategic deterrent’ of missile-bearing submarines.
“‘With a united Ireland, there is no guarantee we could deploy our ballistic missiles…’
“‘The UK needs to calibrate the threat to itself of a supine Republic of Ireland. My view is that the best way to help Ireland now is to increase NATO and Allied activity in Ireland’s economic zone waters,’ he said.
“‘We’ve got to start fishing in Irish waters for our potential opponents. Whether the Irish government likes it or not, it’s the high seas so we should do it.’”
The following articles were originally published by the Xinhua News Agency and Consortium News.
Xi congratulates Catherine Connolly on assuming Irish presidency
BEIJING, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday sent a congratulatory message to Catherine Connolly on her assumption of the presidency of Ireland.
Over the past 46 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Ireland, the two countries have jointly achieved remarkable development progress through mutual learning and friendly cooperation, Xi said in the message.
In recent years, the two countries have seen close exchanges at various levels, yielding fruitful results in practical cooperation, he said.
Xi said that he attaches great importance to the development of China-Ireland relations, and stands ready to work with Connolly to enhance political mutual trust, carry forward the traditional friendship, jointly support multilateralism and free trade and promote the continuous development of the China-Ireland mutually beneficial strategic partnership to better benefit the two peoples.
Western Backlash to Ireland’s New President Over Israel
November 11 (Consortium News) – As Catherine Connolly was inaugurated as Ireland’s 10th president in Dublin Castle today, efforts intensified to undermine the country’s neutrality as it weighs moves to punish Israel for genocide.
Connolly, 68, was elected after winning over 63 percent of the vote in a landslide victory last month, her robust defence of anti-war and anti-genocide positions resonating with the Irish electorate, while causing alarm in Western corridors of power.
These are signs that the victory of the anti-imperialist left has served to galvanise establishment forces, both at home and abroad.
A former White House national security advisor, Robert C. O’Brien, writing in The Wall Street Journal last week, warned the Trumpadministration would “no longer tolerate countries that reap the benefits of America’s economic strength and military power, while pursuing policies that undermine American interests.”
“Ireland’s President-elect embodies the antagonism towards American interests,” he wrote, adding:
“Ireland is finding its voice in international affairs, but it’s one that seems increasingly hostile to US interests. Ireland is the most antagonistic country to Israel in the Western world … Ireland was one of the first Western democracies to recognise a Palestinian state unilaterally, and it is at the forefront of allegations of ‘genocide’ against Israel. Meanwhile Dublin courts Chinese investment with no mention of Beijing’s human rights record, economic coercion or regional aggression.”
In January, Ireland formally intervened in South Africa’s case brought against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which alleges a breach of the Genocide Convention. Ireland has also remained out of NATO, refusing to militarise with most of the rest of Europe.
Ireland is indeed facing growing pressure over its refusal to align with the imperial West. Even its civil society bodies are coming under scrutiny from U.S. neo-conservatives.
Graham Chimes In
Republican lawmaker Lindsey Graham over the weekend threatened consequences on the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), which voted overwhelmingly for its board to request that the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) immediately suspend Israel from European competitions.
Members of Irish soccer’s governing body had cited violations by Israel’s Football Association of two UEFA provisions – to implement and enforce an effective anti-racism policy and Israeli clubs playing in occupied Palestinian territories without the consent of the Palestinian Football Association.
Graham promised to “make those who participate in this effort to marginalize Israel in sports, and elsewhere, pay a heavy price when it comes to access to the American economy.”
In July, Graham also joined U.S. envoy to Israel Mike Huckabee and other U.S. lawmakers in criticising the Irish government’s plans to ban trade with businesses operating within illegal Israeli settlements.
The Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025 was first tabled in 2018, passed by majority votes in both the Seanad (upper house) and the Dáil (lower house), but had been stalled by successive governments after “veiled threats” of economic consequences by U.S. lawmakers, which have included Irish-Americans like Peter King.
Graham in July said he hoped “Ireland will reconsider their efforts to economically isolate Israel.”
“I do not believe these efforts would be well received in the United States and they certainly would not go unnoticed,” he said on X.
The bill is expected to be watered down by the centre-right Irish coalition government, to head off coercive moves by the U.S.
Connolly a Formidable Anti-war Voice
What they may not be able to water down is the voice of Connolly.
She replaces Michael D. Higgins, another former Irish Labour Party member, who served two seven-year terms and whose criticism of Israel over the past two years contributed to Israel withdrawing its ambassador from Dublin in December 2024.
Connolly may prove even more strident in her public foreign policy positions.
In the lead-up to the Israel import ban vote on Oct. 24, she had pointedly criticised NATO “warmongering” and Israel’s genocide in Gaza. She also voiced support for a border poll over Irish reunification, as outlined in the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement that brought an end to decades of political violence in the north of the partitioned island.
She told an often hostile media that Hamas formed “part of the civil society of Palestine” and that only Palestinians should choose who governs them, a rebuff to the Trump administration’s 20-point neo-colonial ‘peace’ plan. Connolly bluntly stated that Israel was an out-of-control state committing a genocide.
When scrutinised over her attitude to the Western proxy war in Ukraine, the former barrister and psychologist said the conflict could only be resolved by diplomacy and that German rearmament reminded her of the military build-up in the 1930s.
Her elevation to Ireland’s constitutional figurehead and its moral voice on the world stage was the result of a disparate opposition’s ability to form a collective voting bloc, possibly learning from previous mistakes.
In June last year, Connolly joined a panel alongside other veteran activists, including former northern civil rights leader Bernadette Devlin Aliskey, in support of Clare Daly’s failed bid to retain her European Parliament seat.
The staunch NATO critic lost, disadvantaged by smears carried by media outlets that suggested she was a Russian asset and by several other leftist candidates also standing.
This time, unity among the left saw Ireland’s biggest party Sinn Fein, as well as Labour, People Before Profit and the Social Democrats, getting behind Connolly.
Getting her elected to what is largely a ceremonial role may prove vitally important as a means of countering pro-war and anti-genocide narratives in the country, which are being pushed heavily by establishment media.
From Threats to Threat Inflation
These narratives are now coming thick and fast.
A report entitled Peak Ireland by security-state aligned London think tank Policy Exchange, released on Oct. 30, argued that Ireland was freeloading “off the security umbrella provided by the US, the UK, and other European states.”
But, it said, the country was vulnerable to U.S. tariffs and trade negotiation shifts, as it continued to challenge Washington’s foreign policy settings. Its contents were covered by Ireland’s major news outlets.
Interestingly, former U.S. national security advisor O’Brien wrote the foreword to the report.
In his Wall Street Journal op-ed, O’Brien too criticised Ireland’s “pitiful investment” on defence, which amounted to 0.2 percent of GDP.
“Ireland lacks key technical defenses, like radar systems and efficient cyber and human intelligence networks, leaving the country open to espionage and cyberattacks from Russia, China and extremist nonstate actors,” he wrote.
Several media outlets found ways of writing stories around these talking-points, referencing concerns by unnamed Irish and European military and security leaders about the country’s ability to carry out security operations after it takes up the six-month rotational E.U. Presidency from July next year.
Of specific concern was Ireland’s lack of radar and defence capability when hosting the European Political Community summit next year, usually attended by up to 50 leaders. It was reported that a delegation from an unnamed Baltic country raised concerns about security with Irish officials at a meeting in Dublin last month.
The stories were hinged, or maybe unhinged, on a manufactured fear that Russia is sending drones deep into European airspace to probe nations’ defences as part of a hybrid warfare campaign.
Claims that drones were being launched from tankers used by Russia to transport its oil – its so-called ‘shadow fleet’ – were repeated uncritically. No evidence has been presented for this.
Mystery drones have recently closed Brussels Airport, with similar issues reported in Denmark in September.
The reporting forms a long line of narrative-driven stories seemingly designed to engineer fear and justify a more militarized and NATO-aligned stance by Ireland.
Ironically, Irish Defence Forces gave away its key radar systems used to direct anti-aircraft missiles, known as Giraffe, to Ukraine earlier this year. The Irish Times reported the Government is now purchasing at speed a multi-million Euro counter-drone system.
Neutrality Under Threat
What lies at the centre of these propaganda pieces is a desire to bring Irish politicians and the public to an intellectual position the logic of which would undermine the rationale to retain the country’s neutrality, a position it has maintained since the state was established in 1921.
In widely reported remarks in early November, Ukraine’s first deputy minister for foreign affairs, Sergiy Kyslytsya, said neutrality was “a thing of the past.”
Speaking at the European Commission’s offices in Dublin, he warned Russia could flood far-off nations with drones or bring its systems down with cyberattacks. He suggested Ireland should follow the path of former neutral countries Finland and Sweden in helping to confront the threat.
Others have been even more forthright, expressing utter contempt for not just neutrality, but Irish sovereignty itself.
A former senior NATO commander, British Rear Admiral Chris Parry, last week told Westminster MPs and House of Lords members in a briefing that any future united Ireland would pose a strategic threat.
He said the loss of Northern Ireland would deepen the threat to Britain posed by Chinese and Russian submarines, and also recommended NATO hold naval exercises in Irish waters, whether Dublin agreed or not.
In a country like Ireland, with its bitter colonial legacy and where many keenly recognise Western war propaganda, comments from the likes of Parry may put accumulative pressure on the Irish government to compromise on neutrality, but such remarks will also likely antagonise large sections of the Irish public.
Unpicking Triple Lock
Key to dragging Ireland into NATO-captured EU security arrangements is the unpicking of its Triple Lock, designed to keep Ireland out of Western imperial interventions.
The Triple Lock means no more than 12 Irish Defence Forces members can be sent on an overseas mission, unless there is a United Nations Security Council mandate, approval from the Irish government (Cabinet), and approval from Dáil Éireann (the Irish parliament).
The Irish government therefore cannot move unilaterally, even if it manages to get a majority vote through Parliament and regardless of how much pressure is exerted from the E.U. and powerful NATO countries to circumvent the U.N.
European NATO nations are pushing plans to insert ‘peacekeepers’ into Ukraine, an arrangement Russia has signaled it will reject as part of any negotiated peace settlement.
Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Micheál Martin discussed peacekeeping and prospects for a ceasefire with Zelensky by phone in September.
Although the Irish Government has not linked the two issues, it may not be a coincidence that it is bringing forward legislation to ditch the need for a Security Council mandate for peacekeeping missions, making it a Double Lock instead.
Connolly herself could speak out over the issue, putting pressure on the Government to agree to a referendum to change the Triple Lock, something the Government claims is unnecessary, as it supposedly does not compromise neutrality.
Connolly cannot legislate, only exercising discretional powers like the ability to send a bill to the Supreme Court to test its constitutionality. But there is nothing in the Irish Constitution that restricts anything she says in public.
One Irish outlet has reported the Government is planning for a visit from Zelensky, possibly in December. It remains unclear whether Connolly would receive him in the event of any such visit. If she did, there would be a risk for both parties.
A public engagement would invariably be used to put further pressure on Connolly to assume a more NATO-friendly position.
However, Zelensky risks being told some home truths in front of any cameras, primarily that diplomacy is the only way forward and that any other approach, including inflating threats posed by Russia, carries the unacceptable risk of an all-out war between European nations and Russia.
Connolly will likely act as a necessary and principled political bulwark against attempts to further propagandise Irish society and browbeat its population into renouncing its anti-colonial and anti-war instincts, as NATO threatens to consume it.
