UNLESS Micheál Martin and Fine Gael can come up with convincing evidence that Catherine Connolly eats her pets and has enjoyed roast dog in the company of Saed Abd Al‑Aal while on that Syria visit, the Galway Independent seems set for success in her campaign to become President of Ireland. There are at least four obvious reasons why her success can provide wider benefits.
First, she has said, if elected, she would expand the role of the President. Michael D Higgins was well known for speaking out on a range of topics. Catherine Connolly has made clear she would add volume to such interventions, taking part in or initiating public debate, providing constitutional oversight and moral leadership.
Second, if elected, Connolly would advance the cause of a reunited Ireland. She is on record as having said that NEI is an "unnatural” state and that she would help shape discourse around the North, the Good Friday Agreement and cross-border relations.
Third, Catherine Connolly has strong feelings about the South’s neutrality. She has spoken loud and clear and given a thumbs-down for that vile construction, the military-industrial complex. For decades, the big armament companies have collected vast sums for manufacturing instruments of death and Connolly is determined that the world will know it. The South was neutral during World War Two, even if that conflict was referred to as The Emergency. Catherine Connolly seems determined to use whatever Presidential levers she can to continue the South’s role as a sane and neutral state.
Fourth, Connolly would be a voice for the disabled, for working-class communities and for Irish language rights. We know that disabled people are at a disadvantage in all sorts of ways: getting into and out of cars and buildings; being treated as people who have a contribution to make to society. As for working-class communities, they suffer poorer health, higher levels of crime and less respect than the more privileged parts of society. The Irish language, experiencing a mini-boom at the moment, could benefit massively if it had the weight of the President’s office behind it.
In Britain, former politicians have a sad habit of ending up in the House of Lords (Hello, DUP), where they can do laps of honour while spending the taxpayers’ money simply by turning up and signing in on any given day. The South of Ireland, mercifully, doesn’t have a House of Lords. But it does have former politicians who use their experience and contacts to fatten their own wallet. Catherine Connolly, in contrast, has lived a political life of service for others and clearly has no intention of sitting on a cushy number in Áras an Uachtaráin for seven years. She will be a President who’ll test the limits of her office.
Most Irish people have a strong compassionate streak. When disaster strikes in some part of the world, Irish people are always ready to contribute to helping. Inspired by an idealistic President, the best qualities in the Irish people would show.
Finally and perhaps most importantly, success for Catherine Connolly would show the massive advantage of Sinn Féin and the left-leaning parties working together. Combined, they can and will change the face of Irish politics.
