DURING THE PRESIDENTIAL campaign, both Catherine Connolly and Heather Humphreys were asked what they thought of US president Donald Trump.

In a presidential debate on Newstalk earlier this month, Humphreys said she respects Trump’s mandate and added that “you never know what you are going to hear” from him. 

But when host Pat Kenny put it to Humphreys that Trump “funded Israel to do what it did in Gaza,” Humphreys somewhat deflected and replied:

“All I want to see is that in Gaza, that the mothers are waking up this morning and their children are in their beds.”

At times on the campaign trail, Connolly remarked that she is “blunt, straightforward and direct” and quipped that her “life would be easier” if she was less so.

She was direct with Kenny and described Trump as “somebody who armed and funded genocide”.

But should she meet with Trump as president, would she be quite so direct?

In the final debate of the presidential campaign on RTÉ’s Primetime, Connolly was asked if she would tell Trump that she believes the US enabled genocide in Gaza.

She replied that as president, she would meet “anyone that the government invites into the country – that will be part of my role”.

Asked if she would tell US President Donald Trump that the US enabled genocide in Gaza, Catherine Connolly said it would depend on the situation and “what’s on the agenda” adding she doubted Gaza would feature if she were to meet him.@rtenews | #rtept pic.twitter.com/tK5fHgkAxW

— RTÉ Prime Time (@RTE_PrimeTime) October 21, 2025

As part of the same answer, she said that EU Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen “stood shoulder to shoulder” with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, adding “there’s an arrest warrant out for that man”.

She added that the “genocide was enabled and resourced by American money, along with other countries, and that genocide has continued”. 

When asked if she would say this to Trump should they meet, Connolly said it would “depend on how I’m meeting or what the subject is”. 

She noted that she had met both von der Leyen and former US president Joe Biden in her former role as Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

She said they just shared a few words and that she didn’t “engage” with them in this role.

When again pressed on this during the Primetime debate about a potential meeting with Trump, Connolly said she will “represent the people of Ireland as best I can”.

She added that the role of president “is a different role for me”.

She was once more asked if she would describe the US as enabling genocide should she meet Trump as president.

“It’s a speculative question,” replied Connolly, “and so it will absolutely depend on what’s on the agenda.

“If it’s just a meet and greet, then I will meet and greet. If the discussion is genocide, that’s a completely different thing.”

However, she said doubted that a discussion of Gaza would be on the agenda, “especially with the president who has a symbolic role in that sense of meeting and greeting them”.

“I have no difficulty in fulfilling my role in meeting people,” she added.

Meanwhile, on The Journal’s The Candidate podcast, Connolly was asked what she would say to von der Leyen if she met with her as president.

She again noted that she shared a few words with von der Leyen, in German, when the two met when she was Leas Ceann-Comhairle.

“I have no problem performing that role,” said Connolly. “That’s part of the role of being president, to welcome people that the government invites”.

When asked what issues she might raise should she meet with von der Leyen, Connolly replied: “This is speculative. Maybe it’s just I’m going to say ‘hello’ and then she’s gone, I don’t know.

She added that as Leas-Cheann Comhairle, “one has to switch” and she even had a routine to get into the right frame of mind as she changed in and out of her official robes for the Dáil role. 

“I had a little routine of going out the door and around the long way after I took off the cloak so that I could just get out of that.”