{"id":89873,"date":"2025-09-28T01:01:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T01:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/89873\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T01:01:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T01:01:14","slug":"irish-unity-a-foregone-conclusion-says-catherine-connolly-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/89873\/","title":{"rendered":"Irish unity a \u2018foregone conclusion\u2019, says Catherine Connolly \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Catherine Connolly<\/a> has told a meeting of Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a> members in Dublin she believes a united Ireland is \u201ca foregone conclusion\u201d and \u201cthere must be preparations for it on all sides\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking at an event entitled Building for Unity at the Helix in DCU, the presidential candidate told several hundred members of the party a united Ireland \u201cwill happen\u201d. As president, she would \u201cgive voice to the firm will of the Irish people in Article 3 of the Constitution in every way I can to promote that objective\u201d, she added.<\/p>\n

She denied suggestions she had only identified reunification as a personal priority as she sought the support of Sinn F\u00e9in in next month\u2019s election but said it had always been an objective for her and that she had been affected \u201cas a young girl\u201d by the sight of refugees from the North having to be housed temporarily in a diocesan college in Galway. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat image never left me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"SinnSinn F\u00e9in deputy leader Michelle O’Neill, Catherine Connolly and Sinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald at The Helix in Dublin on Saturday. Photograph: Niall Carson\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

Northern Ireland was also a topic for discussion for Heather Humphreys<\/a> on the campaign trail in Cork on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The Fine Gael candidate said she was in favour of Irish citizens living in Northern Ireland being allowed to vote in presidential elections as it would assist in achieving a united Ireland, but she agreed with the late John Hume that unity of territory could only be achieved after a unity of peoples.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to have more conversations about building trust, about breaking down barriers, and about bringing people together and deepening our understanding of the different traditions in Northern Ireland. <\/p>\n

\u201cI did see only in recent weeks that there still is a lot of misunderstanding, there\u2019s a lot of misinformation out there, and I truly want to work hard on that, and I believe in a united Ireland but before that, we must have a united people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI absolutely commit to working with all traditions, nationalists and unionists in Northern Ireland, work together and build on the work of Mary McAleese.\u201d <\/p>\n

[\u00a0In Heather Humphreys country: \u2018It was hard to find a Protestant not in the Orange Order\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Ms Humphreys said she believes the fact that she, as someone proud of her Protestant heritage, is contesting the Irish presidential election is proof of how tolerant and inclusive Ireland is as both a state and a society.<\/p>\n

She said she never felt discriminated against growing up as a Presbyterian in Co Monaghan and she rejected comments made last week by DUP leader Gavin Robinson about the \u201cinstitutional intolerance of Protestant culture and heritage\u201d in the Republic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis country has given me everything that I have, and it has made me what I am. I went to a coeducational, multidenominational, school. I got a great education, and I got a great opportunity in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FineFine Gael presidential candidate Heather Humphreys. Photograph: Stephen Collins\/Collins <\/p>\n

She said she had never felt discriminated against because of her Protestant background, and she had always been encouraged to speak up and embrace her Presbyterian heritage.<\/p>\n

Asked if she would speak to Mr Robinson\u2019s views on the Republic being an inhospitable place for Protestants if she were to meet him as president of Ireland, Ms Humphreys said she would be happy to talk to him about her experience as a Protestant in the Republic.<\/p>\n

\"\"And then there were three \u2013 the presidential candidates set off on the campaign trail<\/p>\n

\u201cI will have that conversation with him, and of course, I will explain to him, and indeed many others, and I will use the opportunity to say to people in Northern Ireland, \u2018Just look at me, I\u2019m very proud of my tradition. I\u2019ve never hidden it\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis country has given me the opportunity to be who I am today, and I think I am actually living proof that this country is a tolerant country, and this country does respect all traditions, and my tradition has been respected as I have journeyed throughout life,\u201d she said before attending a rally of Fine Gael supporters.<\/p>\n

In Dublin, Ms Connolly said she had expressed a desire to see a united Ireland in the wake of the Brexit referendum a decade ago and said: \u201cIt will happen, it will happen by consent but there must be preparation for it on all sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comments were enthusiastically received by the crowd of Sinn F\u00e9in members.<\/p>\n

Ms Connolly said she had \u201cnever tried to use the Irish language as a divisive topic or to highlight those who can\u2019t speak it but what I will say is that Irish is our first official language. It is also a language that I went back to learn, and I would invite all of you to use me as an example and to go and embrace and learn our Irish language, not because it\u2019s the right thing to do but because one, it is our language, and two, it\u2019s absolutely, completely different than the English language. It gives us a perspective on another world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Humphreys is not fluent in Irish and has promised she would seek to improve her command of the language if elected, something she previously committed to do in 2014 when minister for the Gaeltacht.<\/p>\n

Speaking after the event, Sinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald expressed satisfaction with Ms Connolly\u2019s address and the reception she had received from the party\u2019s members.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe spoke very fulsomely about her vision for Ireland as a militarily neutral Ireland, as a beacon of hope for democracy, for peace, for conflict resolution. Of course, about Gaza, about Palestine, and again, reiterated the position of not normalising genocide.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe spoke too about the need for the president to have an independent and distinct voice from the government in calling out the housing crisis and the experiences of people on the ground. She talked about building a full Republic. And all of these sentiments have been very warmly welcomed by Sinn F\u00e9in.\u201d<\/p>\n

After campaigning in Kerry on Friday, Fianna F\u00e1il candidate Jim Gavin<\/a> was back in Dublin on Saturday, with Lucan Sarsfields GAA club one of his stopping-off points. Mr Gavin\u2019s official campaign launch takes place on Sunday with Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Catherine Connolly has told a meeting of Sinn F\u00e9in members in Dublin she believes a united Ireland is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,1921,18,13,14,6,555,19,17,19487,11,12,15,16,5,59,47,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-89873","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-headlines","15":"tag-heather-humphreys","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-jim-gavin","19":"tag-latest-news","20":"tag-latestnews","21":"tag-main-news","22":"tag-mainnews","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-presidential-election","25":"tag-sinn-fein","26":"tag-top-stories","27":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89873","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=89873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}