As she prepares for inauguration Catherine Connolly shares her journey from the west of Ireland to Áras an Uachtaráin with The Irish Post’s JASON O’TOOLE
Catherine Connolly with her husband Brian McEnery being congratulated by Heather Humphreys and Fianna Fail leader Micheál Martin - picture by Leah Farrell for RollingNews.iePRESIDENT-ELECT Catherine Connolly’s backstory has the feel of a rags-to-riches tale reminiscent of the Misery Lit. genre popularised by the late Frank McCourt with Angela’s Ashes.
Tragedy struck early when growing up as one of 14 children in Galway City – she lost her 43-year-old mother, who suffered from chronic asthma, when just nine.
Yet the 68-year-old, who’ll become our tenth president when inaugurated on November 11, did not play the sympathy card when I interviewed her at the start of the campaign trail.
“Of course, there were tough times. I’m part of a big family – seven boys and seven girls. We just took it for granted. “I don’t use words like cramped – I came from a privileged background,” she said without any pathos.
She added philosophically, “We were privileged in so many ways because we got to know life from so many different perspectives. We knew joy and sadness, to give us a unique perspective.”
Losing her mother, she acknowledged, had a “profound, lifelong effect”. It took her “nearly a lifetime to understand the importance of a mother and the consequences of losing her”.
It made motherhood all the more precious. “It was something I didn't rush into. I waited, and it was beautiful. Looking back, I wish I had spent more time [with my children],” said the mother of two.
She explained that juggling work and motherhood was made all the more strenuous by her decision mid-career to switch from clinical psychology, having obtained her Master’s in Leeds, to study for the Bar.
“I did spend a lot of time with them, but when you start in law and you’re not connected, there isn’t much work, so I was trying to keep my hand in and do other things and look after my children as well,” she recalled.
“It [motherhood] was lovely. I really realised what it was to lose your mother in my thirties, and then when I had the children.”
Surprisingly, for such a dyed-in-the-wool left-wing leaning independent candidate, she “wasn’t political at all” in her formative years.
“I’m a latecomer to politics. But in another sense, I was very active in the community,” President-elect Connolly said, adding that in her youth she raised money for local amenities and was a member of the Legion of Mary.
She was “not really” religious. “No, we gave my father a very hard time over religion. All 14 of us at different times,” she quipped.
“I don’t believe in heaven and hell. I've lost siblings in the last number of years, in addition to my father and my mother. Of course, part of you always wants to think you’ll see them again.
“But they're guiding me. I think that’s heaven, that they’re with me. So, when I feel this is too much, I hear my sister’s voice say, ‘Take a little rest and start again’”.
Asked if she had any heroes, she namechecked Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, and Rosa Parks.
And when asked if she would include Martin McGuinness in this illustrious pantheon of icons, she responded that she never supported the IRA.
She added, “I have the greatest respect for what Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams did in terms of the Peace Process. There couldn’t have been a Peace Process without them.”
She was quick to nail her colours to the mast on unification. “We have to unite. We’re a tiny country. We should never have been divided. It was detrimental to the country and to the people,” she stated.
“I hope we could do that with consent, while respecting all sides. It doesn’t make sense to have a divided country.
“It’s as if we’ve cut off a limb from our body. And psychologically and politically, it’s wrong. I hope that I see a United Ireland in due course.”
The former Labour Party member told me she had vowed to learn the Irish language late in life because she was unable to do a radio interview as Gaeilge.
“I made a promise to myself. I went back and did a diploma in Irish,” she said. “And then I did a diploma in translation. I had reached the point where I wanted to do away with shame. No more shame.”
She rubbished claims that she is anti-EU. “That would be very wrong. I’m very anti the militarisation of the EU. And I’m anti the neoliberal agenda that permeates the treaties,” she explained.
“I did a semester in a German college. My brother, who is now dead, married a German woman. My two sisters went to Germany. I know exactly what it means to be a European.
“There's a difference between valuing European values and the copper-fastening of a military industrial complex.”
She revealed it wasn’t an easy decision to throw her hat into the ring for the presidency, conceding that she “agreed with those people” who said it was extremely arrogant for anyone to think, “I should be President of Ireland.”
“The hardest part of this process for me was fighting those voices in my own head: ‘Who do you think you are?’” she reflected.
“But my experience [is an asset] – I’ve had the privilege of working in different roles, and being in the Dáil. I've always looked on my role as a privilege to serve the people.
“I think as president, you’re there to serve the people and reflect their values as best you can interpret them.”
She continued, “This country could be leading the world in terms of being a voice for peace, a trusted voice in diplomatic relations, and being a shining light for climate change.”
She conceded that, as our newly elected figurehead of state, she would not feel comfortable shaking hands with US President Donald Trump.
“There are many people I wouldn’t be happy shaking hands with as president, and I shook many hands as Leas-Cheann Comhairle,” said the veteran politician, who was the first woman to hold this role in Dáil Éireann
“We had many visiting dignitaries in the Dáil that I didn’t feel comfortable with. But it’s human to shake hands.
“It’s also human to say, ‘I don't agree, and what you’re doing is wrong’. You can do the two things. As the President, you do it in a slightly different way.
“The role of the president is laid out in the Constitution and by law, and I’m fully conscious. I spent 20 years working as a barrister. You’re there to serve.”
One gets the sense that she will probably be even more outspoken on issues such as Palestine than the incumbent President Higgins, but she promised not to rock the boat.
“You take a vow to dedicate yourself to serving the welfare of the people,” she concluded, “and I’d be interested in exploring that: how to use that to speak, to be there serving the welfare of the people.
“I will never change from saying we should not allow Shannon Airport to be used. It’s an obscenity.
“However, as a president, you have a role, and you have to do that role as best you can within the Constitution and comply with the law.
“I’ve come to the point where I’m able to do that. And all we can do is our best in each role and to use the role as widely as possible while staying within the constitution and the law.”
It will be an interesting seven years.
See More: Catherine Connolly, President-elect
