Photograph Source: Houses of the Oireachtas – CC BY 2.0

Catherine Connolly (born 1957) only became involved in active politics in 1999. Michael D. Higgins, the outgoing president of Ireland (2011-2025), encouraged Connolly to join the Labour Party and stand for election. Both Connolly and Higgins (known in Ireland as Michael D) come from Galway, a city on the west coast of Ireland. Connolly was born there, the ninth of fourteen children — seven girls and seven boys — in a working-class family. Her mother died when Catherine was only nine, and her father, a home builder, relied on his older children to care for the younger ones. In this household, Catherine Connolly developed a keen sense of service and discipline, which included involvement in local Catholic charities such as the Legion of Mary and the Order of Malta. This was, as she describes it, Connolly’s road to “her socialism”.

As a lawyer in Galway with a young family (two boys), Connolly ran for and won a seat on the Galway City Council in 1999, later becoming Mayor of Galway from 2004 to 2005. Michael D had been Mayor from 1990 to 1991. Just as she followed him to City Hall, Connolly has now followed Michael D to the presidency of Ireland.

Ireland is a country divided by British colonialism: most of the population lives in the Republic of Ireland (population 5.2 million), while a part of the island’s population lives in the northern counties still controlled by the United Kingdom (population 1.5 million). There are between 50 million and 80 million people around the world,........

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