{"id":376697,"date":"2026-03-09T23:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T23:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/376697\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T23:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T23:50:09","slug":"government-says-power-to-set-foreign-policy-lies-with-it-and-not-president-connolly-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/376697\/","title":{"rendered":"Government says power to set foreign policy lies with it and not President Connolly \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Government<\/a> has responded to President Catherine Connolly<\/a>\u2019s intervention on Iran<\/a> by reminding her that it has executive responsibility for foreign affairs.<\/p>\n

Speaking to political correspondents on Monday, the Government\u2019s spokesman said \u201csuccessive governments have voiced support for international law\u201d, adding this was \u201cespecially important for a small country\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said the Government \u201cfully respects the constitutional role of the President\u201d but added: \u201cIt\u2019s important to recall that the responsibility for foreign affairs rests with the Government.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spokesman declined to comment further, but the statement is likely intended as a direct riposte to Connolly\u2019s comments on Sunday, when she condemned the \u201cviolations of international law\u201d in the Gulf<\/a>. She said they were \u201cshocking and numbing\u201d, adding, \u201cbut we cannot afford inaction\u201d.<\/p>\n

Though not naming the United States<\/a>, the President\u2019s words were taken as a clear message that she believes Ireland should speak out against US actions against Iran, just a week before Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> visits US president Donald Trump<\/a> at the White House.<\/p>\n

The Government\u2019s response on Monday, reminding the President of her role \u2013 and by implication of the limits of her role \u2013 is in contrast to its previous policy of not commenting on interventions by Michael D Higgins<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Senior sources declined to discuss the issue, citing its sensitivity, though they did not contradict the suggestion that Government Buildings was intending to send a message to the \u00c1ras.<\/p>\n

T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris<\/a> struck what may be received as a slightly different note when saying the Government had a respect for her \u201cright to speak on issues of concern to her, and indeed issues of concern to the Irish people\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Catherine Connolly criticises \u2018violations of international law\u2019 in Middle EastOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Speaking in Brussels, where he was attending an Ecofin meeting of Eurogroup<\/a> finance ministers, Harris said it had very clearly stated the US and Israeli<\/a> military attack<\/a> did not have a United Nations<\/a> mandate. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Government has been consistent in its support for international law. I have huge respect for the President, a huge respect for her mandate, her constitutional role and her office, and therefore her right to speak on issues of concern to her, and indeed issues of concern to the Irish people. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Government has also been clear, clear in terms of our support for the UN, the importance of international law and calling for de-escalation,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

However, sources indicated that Harris\u2019s comments were consistent with the Government statement, saying the President will not be prevented from speaking out on issues as she has before, but that all political and executive responsibility affairs reside with the Government. <\/p>\n

In her statement on Sunday to mark International Women\u2019s Day, Connolly said the recent attacks in the Middle East have been \u201cdeliberate assaults on international law\u201d.<\/p>\n

Although not naming the US or Israel specifically, her comments were seen as an implicit rebuke to the Government, which has stopped short of saying the attacks on Iran<\/a> have violated international law.<\/p>\n

Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee<\/a> said it was \u201conly right\u201d that Connolly has reflected on the horrors of the war and the conflict, especially on women and children and said the Government \u201call share her views in terms of what is happening\u201d. <\/p>\n

McEntee said: \u201cThe death of innocent civilians must be condemned. We as a Government have been clear that what is happening is not in line, or consistent, with international law. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Government priority must be on how we can draw things back and how can we get people around the table.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Government has responded to President Catherine Connolly\u2019s intervention on Iran by reminding her that it has executive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,1921,356,102565,13,14,3428,6,14370,18929,71,45036,11,12,15,16,1874,5765,5,7,8,384,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-376697","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-catherine-connolly","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-eurogroup","13":"tag-featured-news","14":"tag-featurednews","15":"tag-government","16":"tag-headlines","17":"tag-helen-mcentee","18":"tag-iran","19":"tag-israel","20":"tag-israel-iran-conflict","21":"tag-latest-news","22":"tag-latestnews","23":"tag-main-news","24":"tag-mainnews","25":"tag-michael-d-higgins","26":"tag-micheal-martin","27":"tag-news","28":"tag-top-stories","29":"tag-topstories","30":"tag-united-states","31":"tag-world","32":"tag-world-news","33":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116201902871598778","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376697","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=376697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}