Catherine Connolly, Ireland's President-elect.RollingNews.ie
The following article was submitted to IrishCentral by Rep. Conor Casey of the Vermont House of Representatives in response to this article, published on Extra.ie and later on IrishCentral on Friday, October 31.
Former Trump adviser Robert C. O’Brien has plenty to say about Catherine Connolly — but his criticism says more about him than it does about her.
In IrishCentral this week, O’Brien warned that Connolly’s independence would “damage relations” with the United States. That’s rich coming from someone who served a president who has slapped tariffs on Irish goods, threatened European trade partners, and made life harder for countless Irish people hoping to live and work in America.
Trump is no friend to Ireland. He treats allies as bargaining chips and immigrants as statistics. Catherine Connolly represents the opposite: honesty, empathy, and the courage to speak truth to power.
From her work as a barrister and psychologist to her years as Mayor of Galway and an independent voice in the Dáil, Connolly has always led by listening. She doesn’t chase headlines — she serves people.
The Irish presidency isn’t about wielding power; it’s about embodying values. And Catherine Connolly lives those values every day. She will bring to Áras an Uachtaráin the same decency and independence that define her public life — qualities sorely missing in the world of performative politics O’Brien helped create.
As Chair of the American Irish State Legislative Caucus in Vermont, I see how deeply our two nations remain connected. Irish America looks to Ireland for moral leadership rooted in fairness and conscience — not subservience to any power.
President Connolly will engage with the diaspora as a partner, not a prop. She’ll rebuild trust and cooperation through respect, honesty, and shared purpose.
Robert O’Brien can cling to the politics of bluster and hierarchy. Ireland deserves better. Catherine Connolly offers something rarer: integrity without ego, conviction without cruelty.
She will be a President who unites, not divides.
A voice of conscience, not compliance.
And she will make both Ireland and Irish America proud.
*Rep. Conor Casey represents Montpelier in the Vermont House of Representatives. He serves as Chair of the American Irish State Legislative Caucus and is a dual U.S.–Irish citizen active in strengthening ties between Ireland and Irish America.