Catherine Connolly (born 12 July 1957) is an Irish

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

politician who has served as the

Leas-Cheann Comhairle The (; "Head of heCouncil"; plural usually ) is the chairman, chairperson (or speaker (politics), speaker) of , the lower house of the (parliament) of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The person who holds the position is elected by members ...

of Dáil Éireann since July 2020. She has been a

Teachta Dála A Teachta Dála ( , ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament). It is the equivalent of terms such as ''Member of Parli ...

(TD) for the Galway West constituency since

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

. She previously served as Chair of the Committee on the Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Islands from 2016 to 2020 and

Mayor of Galway The office of Mayor of Galway is an honorific title used by the of Galway City Council. The council has jurisdiction throughout its administrative area of the city of Galway which is the largest city in the province of Connacht, in Ireland. The ...

from 2004 to 2005. Connolly is a patron of the People's Movement.

Political career

Local politics

Connolly was first elected to

Galway City Council Galway City Council ( ga, Comhairle Cathrach na Gaillimhe) is the authority responsible for local government in the city of Galway, Ireland. As a city council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for hous ...

in the city west local electoral area in June 1999 and then re-elected in the city south local electoral area in 2004. In the same year she was elected

. She resigned from the Labour Party in 2006, when she was denied her wish to run alongside now-President

Michael D. Higgins Michael Daniel Higgins ( ga, Mícheál Dónal Ó hUigínn; born 18 April 1941) is an Irish politician, poet, sociologist, and broadcaster, who has served as the ninth president of Ireland since November 2011. Entering national politics throug ...

in Galway West. She contested the 2007 general election, polling just over 2,000 votes.Siggins, Lorna
"FF vulnerable while Labour exposed as Higgins bows out"
. 3 February 2011. ''The Irish Times''. "The real threat to Nolan will come from dissident Labourites, principally councillor and barrister Catherine Connolly, who resigned in protest in 2006 when she was denied her wish to run alongside Higgins. Connolly subsequently polled just over 2,000 votes in 2007." Her sister, Colette, currently a

lor, was co-opted to replace her on Galway City Council when she was elected a TD.

National politics

She contested the 2011 general election again in Galway West, where she lost out on the last seat to

Fine Gael Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil � ...

Seán Kyne Seán Kyne (born 16 May 1975) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has been a Senator for the Cultural and Educational Panel since March 2020, and previously from February 2020 to March 2020, after being nominated by the Taoiseach. He served as ...

by only 17 votes. She sought a full recount, which concluded after a total of four days of counting but did not change the outcome. She was elected to the Dáil for the Galway West constituency at the 2016 general election. She voted for

Richard Boyd Barrett Richard Boyd Barrett (born 6 February 1967) is an Irish People Before Profit/Solidarity politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dún Laoghaire constituency since the 2011 general election. Boyd Barrett is a former member of Dún ...

for

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the o ...

, when the

32nd Dáil 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

first met. At the 32nd Dáil's second meeting on 5 April 2016, she made her maiden speech in which she criticised the

Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage ( ga, An tAire Tithíochta, Rialtais Áitiúil agus Oidhreachta) is a senior minister in the Government of Ireland and leads the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The ...

Alan Kelly's handling of Ireland's homelessness crisis. Connolly sat on the Public Accounts Committee and was Chair of the Committee on the Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Islands. Catherine Connolly contested the 2020 general election. She was re-elected on the 12th count.

Election as Leas-Cheann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann

Connolly was elected the

of Dáil Éireann on 23 July 2020, in a shock victory over Fine Gael candidate Fergus O'Dowd and is the first woman to hold the position.

Mother and Baby Homes Report

In January 2021, Connolly criticised the Government for their handling of the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation (Mother and Baby Homes and certain related matters). Referring to the

Tánaiste The Tánaiste ( , ) is the deputy head of the government of Ireland and thus holder of its second-most senior office. The Tánaiste is appointed by the President of Ireland on the advice of the Taoiseach. The current office holder is former Tao ...

and Minister for Children, Equality, Disablity, Integration and Youth as the "three unwise men", she was critical of the Government's failure to provide survivors of mother and baby homes the report before it was released to the general public. Connolly stated "This document I have to hand is what the report looks like. I hold it up to show survivors because they do not have it. It is the executive summary with the recommendations and one or two other things. Not a single survivor has it. I have it since yesterday, when it was put in the pigeonholes of Deputies."

Personal life

Originally from Shantalla, Connolly has lived in the

Claddagh Claddagh () is an area close to the centre of Galway city, where the River Corrib meets Galway Bay. It was formerly a fishing village, just outside the old city walls. It is just across the river from the Spanish Arch, which was the location of ...

since 1988, and is married with two children. A barrister by profession, she also previously worked as a Clinical Psychologist, with the Western Health Board in

Ballinasloe Ballinasloe ( ; ) is a town in the easternmost part of County Galway in Connacht. Located at an ancient crossing point on the River Suck, evidence of ancient settlement in the area includes a number of Bronze Age sites. Built around a 12th-ce ...

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city on ...

and

Connemara Connemara (; )( ga, Conamara ) is a region on the Atlantic coast of western County Galway, in the west of Ireland. The area has a strong association with traditional Irish culture and contains much of the Connacht Irish-speaking Gaeltacht, ...

. She is a Gaeilgeoir (someone who speaks fluent Irish).

References

External links

* Andrews, Kernan
"Connolly raises doubts over independence of crypto report"
''Galway Advertiser'', 6 November 2008. {{DEFAULTSORT:Connolly, Catherine 1957 births Living people Independent TDs Labour Party (Ireland) politicians Mayors of Galway Members of the 32nd Dáil Members of the 33rd Dáil Politicians from County Galway Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Alumni of the University of Galway Local councillors in Galway (city) 21st-century women Teachtaí Dála