Presidential candidate Catherine Connolly said on Sunday that comments made previously by her about not trusting the US, the UK and France were “very much in the context of the genocide in Gaza”.
During a Dáil speech in February Ms Connolly referred to Government plans to scrap the “triple lock” on the deployment of Irish troops abroad – a proposal she opposes, arguing it threatens Ireland’s neutrality.
She agreed with another contributor that there were countries “we certainly cannot trust”, adding: “America is one of those and England and France are others.”
Ms Connolly also said at the time: “What is behind their motivation is simply an arms industry, more war” and “making huge profits”. She also said: “That needs to be called out over and over.”
In an interview on RTÉ’s This Week programme on Sunday, Ms Connolly said: “Have I a trust problem with America? I think everyone in the country has a trust problem with America.
“We have a president Trump who’s volatile, unpredictable, acting like a bully, bringing in tariffs when it suits them.
“We keep talking about the consequences of tariffs, but we never talk about the consequences of genocide … Famine has been created in Gaza like it was in Ireland in 1845, a man-made famine.”
[ Inside Catherine Connolly’s presidential election campaignOpens in new window ]
Later in the interview Ms Connolly defended her decision to nominate journalist Gemma O’Doherty for the presidency in 2018. She said she did not remember if she knew that Ms O’Doherty had expressed opposition to the HPV vaccine prior to nominating her.
She said nominating someone for the presidency was not the same as endorsing them.
Asked if she could have shown better judgment at the time, she said: “On everything I’ve done all over my life, while I reflect, I could always have done better, and I will just really try to do better in the future. That’s been my motto on everything I’ve ever done.”
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During the interview, Ms Connolly, an Independent TD from Galway who served as leas-cheann comhairle in the last Dáil, repeatedly complained about the “framing” of questions put to her.
She said her experience on the campaign trail suggested to her there was a “disconnect between the official conversation and commentary and what people are feeling on the ground, of all ages, in all parts of Ireland”.
Ms Connolly defended her visit to what was then civil war-torn Syria in 2018 and her political alliance with the former MEPs and TDs Mick Wallace and Clare Daly.
[ Presidential election: What Catherine Connolly says on Ukraine, the EU and SyriaOpens in new window ]
She said she agreed with Mr Wallace and Ms Daly on some issues, but not all.
Ms Connolly said she would “certainly not” consider appointing them to the Council of State if elected president.
She said she had never hesitated to condemn the regime of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and said the trip there was a “fact-finding mission”.
Asked if she had known about the background of people she was meeting, including one person who was a supporter of the Assad regime, she said she could not remember what she knew about them at the time.
“To be honest, at this point, I couldn’t, at six years … All I can tell you is that we went with a specific purpose of fact-finding on the ground,” Ms Connolly said.
She said she supported sanctions on Russia, but would like to see a “discussion on sanctions generally and whether they’re effective or not effective”.
But she complained that “we’re not sanctioning Israel”.
People Before Profit to support Catherine Connolly’s bid
Meanwhile, People Before Profit voted unanimously on Sunday to support Ms Connolly’s bid for the presidency.
The party’s Dublin South-West TD Paul Murphy said she presented “a big opportunity to deal a blow to the political establishment”.
He said the party would launch a grassroots campaign to counter what he said were mainstream parties’ efforts to “undermine what is left of neutrality, to get rid of the triple lock and to turn a blind eye in terms of actions to the genocide in Gaza”.
Mr Murphy suggested that the left would be united behind Ms Connolly and dismissed criticism of her candidacy from Labour’s Alan Kelly, saying it was “the best possible endorsement that a candidate of the left could get”.
He also expressed optimism that Sinn Féin would move to support Ms Connolly’s campaign as well.
He said Ms Connolly would “shine in the debate, in the national stage” while the grassroots campaign would also be “unique in this election”.
Asked about the potential candidacy of former Dublin GAA manager Jim Gavin, who has confirmed he will seek the Fianna Fáil nomination, Mr Murphy said it was clear that party’s leadership “didn’t have a whole lot of respect for their own membership and a democratic process”.
He said the decision by MEP Billy Kelleher to seek the party’s support, too, “has kind of made some problems for them. I don’t know Jim’s personal politics. I’m sure he’s a very decent man, but … I think many people across the country will look at someone who’s endorsed by Fianna Fáil, who’s nominated by Fianna Fáil, if that’s how it turns out, and say that’s not the sort of country I want to see”.