A year into her presidency, Catherine Connolly yet to bring the noise expected by some

A year ago today, on November 11th, 2025, surrounded by the great and the good of Ireland’s political, administrative and legal establishment, Catherine Connolly stood amid the pomp and ceremony and took the oath of office to become Ireland’s tenth president.

Her election – by a thumping majority – came after a topsy-turvy campaign which saw Fianna Fáil candidate Jim Gavin crash out and Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys flop. But there was no denying Connolly’s extraordinary capacity to connect with voters and her obvious authenticity. Her strongly left-wing views appealed to the country as an appropriate successor to Michael D Higgins.

With a succession of centrist governments that prioritised the maintenance of Ireland’s thriving, globalised economy, voters were happy to select another left-wing, pro-neutrality figure as Ireland’s first citizen.

In her campaign, Connolly had made clear that she would speak up for the principles and political vision that had brought her into politics in the first place. On neutrality, she promised to “defend it with clarity and conviction”.

In her inaugural address that day in Dublin Castle, she spoke about how the people “have given their President a powerful mandate to articulate their vision for a new Republic”.

She explained that it would be “a Republic worthy of its name where everyone is valued and diversity is cherished, where sustainable solutions are urgently implemented and where a home is a fundamental human right”.

The new President added: “I believe that the president should be a unifying presence – a steady hand, yes, but also a catalyst for change reflecting our desire for a republic that lives up to its name.”

So how has that gone? The anniversary has obviously been on their minds in Áras an Uachtaráin, because they have produced a document detailing her activity over the first 12 months: 345 public engagements, it says, with all 32 counties visited and 6,800 visitors to the Áras. There have been four visits to Northern Ireland and two to Britain. She has attended the “In Defence of Democracy” summit in Barcelona and a meeting of Europe’s non-executive presidents in Slovenia. She has energetically promoted the Irish language, launching a new initiative as recently as yesterday. Trips to the Middle East (but definitely not to Palestine) and Africa are planned for next year.

There has certainly been lots of activity. But it would be hard to say that the “new Republic” is much different to the old one. Connolly’s presidency has bedded down and she has become comfortable in the role, taking to the school-visiting parts of the job with obvious aplomb. She is, according to multiple people who have encountered her, warm and genial in her outreach and hosting roles. Civil Service gossip suggests that her Áras an Uachtaráin is a happier place than the one presided over by her predecessor.

“She cares about people and is interested in them,” says one official familiar with the Áras.

But she commands nothing like the presence in national and political debate that Michael D Higgins did. Where Higgins acted as a sort of lighthouse for a certain type of left-wing thought and was critical of the approach of governments on issues like austerity, housing and neutrality, Connolly has not – yet at least – waded into these waters in any sustained way.

There was one early skirmish, when Connolly criticised the attacks on Iran by the US and Israel – though she avoided mentioning either country by name – describing them as “deliberate assaults on international law”.

“We must name them as such, without euphemism and without equivocation,” she said in a statement the week before the Taoiseach visited Donald Trump in Washington.

The Government’s answer was clear. At the following week’s Cabinet briefing for political correspondents, the Taoiseach’s spokesman said: “It is important to recall that responsibility for international affairs rests with the Government.” There was no continuation of the back-and-forth between Government Buildings and the Áras.

Those who supported Connolly last year are understandably reluctant to criticise her performance or to express disappointment. They laud her reception of US president Trump and say that she quietly conveyed a message of peace to him. There was not much sign that Trump heard it.

Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon, an early supporter of Connolly last year, said he had “heard the argument that she’s been a little too quiet, but I’ve only really heard it coming from the same people who were adamant during the campaign that Catherine would be too much of a political firebrand to hold the presidency”.

The Trump visit, Gannon adds, was “handled perfectly”.

“I doubt Trump got the reference, but gifting him the poetry of Michael Longley which included ‘Ceasefire spoke volumes to those who got the message.”

Fellow Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan says the Trump visit was “the defining moment” of her presidency so far.

But there is an unmistakable sense among some erstwhile supporters that they expected to hear more from Connolly on social and political issues than they have. One prominent Labour Party figure, who had reservations about the party’s support for Connolly last year, acknowledges with relief that she hasn’t been voluble on hot-button issues. Others echo the sentiment, with some regret.

One Green Party figure acknowledges, “maybe some of the younger supporters [last year] expected more”.

Supporters know that the Government is perfectly content with the performance of the new president. And they do not take that as a good sign. They would like Micheál Martin and Simon Harris to be a bit more discommoded by the President’s statements, in the way that previous administrations were by Higgins. But there is no sign of that.

“She doesn’t love the limelight like Michael D did,” says one person who knows both people.

“They’re very different people and the job depends on the personality of the incumbent,” says an experienced official. “Michael D could be volcanic. She is lawyerly and thoughtful.”

In an article celebrating Connolly’s election, in the left-wing magazine Rupture last year, People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy predicted that Connolly would “prove to be a thorn in the side of the political establishment”.

“Undoubtedly,” Murphy wrote, “the columns from commentators tut-tutting about the President overstepping the limits of the role, which became so common under Michael D Higgins, will continue.”

Murphy strongly supports her, insisting that Connolly has “done us proud”.

But the columns that he decried have been few and far between.