{"id":146538,"date":"2025-10-26T17:34:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T17:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/146538\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T17:34:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T17:34:07","slug":"who-is-beibhinn-oconnor-the-power-behind-catherine-connollys-victorious-run-to-the-aras-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/146538\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is B\u00e9ibhinn O\u2019Connor? The power behind Catherine Connolly\u2019s victorious run to the \u00c1ras \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the presidential campaign<\/a> Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys<\/a> wrongly described Paul Murphy, the People Before Profit-Solidarity TD for Dublin South-West, as Catherine Connolly<\/a>\u2019s director of elections. <\/p>\n

The real director of elections was, in fact, a low-profile adviser to Connolly who has marshalled all her election campaigns since her election to the D\u00e1il as an Independent TD for Galway West in 2016.<\/p>\n

To say B\u00e9ibhinn O\u2019Connor<\/a> is low profile is an understatement. She is a classic behind-the-scenes person, completely unknown outside of political circles. <\/p>\n

You will seldom see her on social media, or see her name attached to a quote in a newspaper. For example, she preferred not to be photographed for this piece. <\/p>\n

Her influence is significant, however. <\/p>\n

Connolly trusted her to run the presidential election campaign from its official launch in July and she never ceded control of the campaign to any party that joined, including the big beast of Sinn F\u00e9in. Ultimately, she had to co-ordinate the support of five political parties during the campaign. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe is independent, delighted for the support of the parties, but she doesn\u2019t speak for them,\u201d O\u2019Connor told The Irish Times.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor is understated in appearance too: a shoulder-length bob cut and muted colours. A branded \u2018Connolly\u2019 scarf is the only indication of her role managing the Galway politician\u2019s campaign that secured a landslide 34-point win<\/a> over Humphreys in Friday\u2019s presidential election.<\/p>\n

From outside Galway city, O\u2019Connor was educated through Irish at Scoil Fhursa and at Col\u00e1iste Iogn\u00e1id. She went to Trinity College Dublin in the mid-1990s to study politics and philosophy. After her degree, she studied for a masters in political communications in Dublin City University but did not finish. <\/p>\n

\"President-electPresident-elect Catherine Connolly arrives at Dublin Castle accompanied by her family, her husband Brian McEnery and her sons Brian and Stephen and (right), and her campaign manager B\u00e9ibhinn O\u2019Connor (wearing scarf). Photograph: Alan Betson <\/p>\n

She then went working for a senator whom she prefers not to name. <\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t enjoy it and I thought politics was not for me. There was a lot of spinning and I just did not like it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

That experience prompted her to leave politics. She did a three-month intensive course at Ballymaloe Cookery School in east Cork, and then moved to London where she worked as a chef for four years in top-end restaurants. <\/p>\n

\u201cI loved it. It was busy \u2013 friends, pressure, people, tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

She then moved to Thailand where she opened a restaurant and guest house, which she ran for a number of years. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor had no intention of returning home, but when she came back for her brother\u2019s wedding she \u201cfell back in love with Galway\u201d. <\/p>\n

\n

It was a genuine ground-up campaign. I learned quite a lot from it, the importance of engaging people, finding people where they are, talking to them, listening to them<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0B\u00e9ibhinn O\u2019Connor on the 2015 same-sex marriage referendum<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And so she stayed, setting up a small food business and playing the cello professionally. It had been more than a decade since her involvement with politics.<\/p>\n

When the writ for the 2015 same-sex marriage referendum was moved, she noticed there was no campaign in Galway. She and an old schoolfriend, Sarah Clancy, decided to do something about it. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe said: \u2018Let\u2019s get our act together and let\u2019s get the campaign going in Galway.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

From scratch they built up a group of volunteers in the city that eventually numbered in the hundreds. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a genuine ground-up campaign. I learned quite a lot from it, the importance of engaging people, finding people where they are, talking to them, listening to them,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThen a big part of it is minding each other, when people are shouting and hurling abuse. We had a counsellor engaged for the duration of the campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Sinn F\u00e9in to run own candidate in by-election prompted by Connolly presidency winOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor says gay people who came forward in that campaign showed real bravery. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was tough. To see people having to put themselves out there, tell their own story in order for people to see they merited support. I found that really impactful,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

With so many young volunteers and digital natives, O\u2019Connor saw the power of the online campaign.<\/p>\n

Connolly was a city councillor in Galway at the time and was involved in the campaign in Galway. Following the success of the 2015 campaign, she asked O\u2019Connor to run her 2016 general election campaign, culminating in her election as a TD. <\/p>\n

The two have remained close and O\u2019Connor has been Connolly\u2019s parliamentary assistant since then.<\/p>\n

Unlike her experience of working with the unnamed senator, she has loved the past decade.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Catherine Connolly rises serenely as brutal presidential election has uplifting endOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is because we share our worldview and our politics are broadly aligned,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The mark of previous campaigns could be seen in Connolly\u2019s presidential campaign: building a network from the ground up, personal engagement, branding and a smart digital strategy.<\/p>\n

She has also adapted to change. Podcasts played a big role this time. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey were important for Catherine because she\u2019s not given to short, sharp responses. The longer form suited her,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Those who worked for O\u2019Connor said she was strategic, hardworking, organised and even-tempered. <\/p>\n

\u201cOrganic reach\u201d is how O\u2019Connor summarises her approach to political campaigns. <\/p>\n

And it worked in spectacular fashion for Connolly. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During the presidential campaign Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys wrongly described Paul Murphy, the People Before Profit-Solidarity TD…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,1921,18,13,14,1878,6,555,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,59,7,8,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-146538","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-catherine-connolly","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-galway","15":"tag-headlines","16":"tag-heather-humphreys","17":"tag-ie","18":"tag-ireland","19":"tag-latest-news","20":"tag-latestnews","21":"tag-main-news","22":"tag-mainnews","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-presidential-election","25":"tag-top-stories","26":"tag-topstories","27":"tag-trinity-college-dublin-tcd"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115441674862252746","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}