Presidential candidate Catherine Connolly praises Kneecap as ‘force for the Irish language’
Independent candidate Catherine Connolly, who is a fluent Irish speaker, hailed the Northern Ireland rap trio as a phenomenon
Presidential candidate Catherine Connolly saw Kneecap perform at Electric Picnic
Irish presidential candidate Catherine Connolly has admitted she finds it difficult to speak about her childhood, which was rocked by the death of her mother.
With the country deciding on Friday, the Independent gave a wide-ranging interview. She talked about bopping to Kneecap at Electric Picnic and holding hands with Enoch Burke, dismissed rumors of a falling-out with current President Michael D Higgins, and reflected on how she never sought out to become a politician.
The Co Galway native lifted the lid on her personal life but admitted it’s not something that comes easily to her.
Her eyes lit up as she spoke about her father, who was a carpenter and shipbuilder. But other parts of Ms Connolly’s early life don’t bring as much joy.
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Growing up in Shantalla in Galway city, she didn’t come from a political family but from a young age she and her 13 siblings were “infused with politics”. She said: “But in a sense of social justice we didn’t use those words.
Irish Star’s Ciara O’Loughlin interviewed presidential candidate Catherine Connolly
“We knew from a very early age that there was a world outside of ourselves, notwithstanding the joy and tragedy that occur in everyone’s life.
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“We knew from a very early age about equality, about hypocrisy.
“[My father] loved making boats, traditional ones. That’s where he was most relaxed, with one hand on the tiller and the other with a cigarette. And we’d have a cup of tea on board.
“That was where my dad was most relaxed, most at ease, away from all the worries he had to carry with all of us and my mother dead.”
The Áras hopeful is the sixth youngest out of her 14 siblings and was just nine when her mother died.
It had a profound impact on her and all of their lives and Ms Connolly found it difficult to thrive in school while her sister stayed at home to keep the household running.
She recalled: “Everybody copes differently and I sort of coped by saying I didn’t have someone to control me.
“My mother wasn’t there to tell me to put on the coat or scarf my friends had to wear. I had a sense of freedom.
Catherine Connolly grew up in Co Galway(Image: RTE)
“It was an illusion. It was just my way of coping. It was much later that I realised the magnitude of the loss.
“It was the suddenness of it overnight, and it was such that it did affect all of us.
“Maybe I closed down a little bit, cut it off.”
On her days in school, Ms Connolly said she loved playing with pals but was “afraid” and “fear” was on her mind.
Asked what she was scared of, she said: “I don’t know, I find it difficult to go back on this because. I am not comfortable talking about it; these are all private matters.
“I think when I look back, my sister was minding us at home. She was giving up everything while I was going to school, and she was out of school. Maybe there were psychological things in my head at that time. She subsequently went back to college and did her Leaving Cert too.
“Maybe during that time, I was finding it difficult. There were many reasons. Dad married seven years later.
“So there were many issues all around different things, and I suppose I never articulated that, but I probably didn’t want to thrive too much.”
Catherine Connolly denies she fought with current President of Ireland Michael D Higgins(Image: catherinegalway/X)
Ms Connolly never had a lightbulb moment that led her to politics, but it was Mr Higgins and his wife Sabina who convinced her to run for the council.
She was elected to Galway City Council in 1999 with The Labour Party and was mayor from 2004 to 2005.
In 2007, she first contested in the General Election. When Labour didn’t want to run two candidates – Mr Higgins and Ms Connolly – in Galway West, she decided to run as an independent.
While she was unsuccessful in that election and in 2011, she was returned to the Dáil in 2016.
There have been rumors Mr Higgins and Ms Connolly had a falling-out over the 2007 election but she said that’s not the case.
She said: “I actually never fought with the Labour Party. We just parted ways. We simply parted ways. Obviously, me standing as an independent was the final straw.
“Michael and I never fought. I simply said, ‘I’m standing’. I was his director of elections at some stage.
“It just came to the point to make a decision, like I came to a decision to stand for president”.
If elected, Ms Connolly said she would like to encourage people in “a very positive way” to speak as Gaeilge and learn the language.
This comes as Belfast rap trio Kneecap publicly backed the candidate on Sunday, posting an image to their social media saying “Vótáil Connolly”.
Kneecap performed at Electric Picnic(Image: Getty Images)
The band has been embroiled in controversy, as a terrorism case against Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh was recently thrown out only for UK prosecutors to appeal that ruling.
Ms Connolly said she is a fan of the band and saw them perform at Electric Picnic. She added: “The reason I was at Electric Picnic was that I was on a panel of Irish speakers.
“I saw this movement of people. The movement was down to Kneecap and I went down with them. I could not believe the energy, the vitality. I just couldn’t believe the beat. I was very attracted to it. They had people eating out of their hands – it was a phenomenon.
“They’ve been a force for good and a force for encouraging people to use their voice and a force for the Irish language.”
In July, Ms Connolly became the first candidate to launch a campaign. And while she admits it hasn’t been easy, she said most people she’s met have been respectful with the exception of transgender school row teacher Enoch Burke.
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On Saturday, he confronted her in Limerick, saying he was a victim of her “gender ideology”.
Burke was suspended from his job at Wilson’s Hospital School, Co Westmeath, in 2022 after he refused to address a pupil as “they”.
Speaking about the confrontation, Ms Connolly said: “I shook hands with him and we held hands. I asked him if he stopped shouting, that I would listen to him later.
“He didn’t do that. I think his mother then took his hand out of my hand, which was interesting.
“He just ignored all the needs and all the norms of behavior.
“There has been great respect from people. There has been little or no abuse, so the nearest, really, is the Burke family interference on two occasions, one in Limerick and the other in Galway.”
She also accused Fine Gael of “very low tactics” as they fear they are losing the race badly.
The latest Irish Times/ Ipsos B&A poll put Ms Connolly on 38% and Heather Humphreys on 20%. On Sunday, Fine Gael posted a video to social media calling Ms Connolly a hypocrite for representing banks in home repossessions while later speaking about it is in the Dáil.
She stands by her record as Fianna Fáil Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan defended her, saying the obligation of lawyers to provide legal services is “absolutely essential for the administration of justice”.
Ms Connolly told us she would never “in a million years” post a video attacking another candidate.
She said: “It’s a new low and a measure of the fear Fine Gael have of the feeling that they’re losing badly.”
It’s just three days now until polling day and asked what she would do if she wins the presidency, Ms Connolly said she might celebrate with a drink, and will cheers with her black cats, who are simply called Cat One and Cat Two.
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