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LAST UPDATE | 7 Nov
NORTHERN IRELAND DEPUTY First Minister and DUP MLA Emma Little-Pengelly has turned down an invitation to attend Catherine Connolly’s inauguration as Irish president.
It will be the first time since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement that a serving first or deputy first minister has not attended the inauguration in Dublin Castle.
Back in 2011 when President Michael D Higgins was first elected, then DUP first minister Peter Robinson joined then deputy first minister and Sinn Féin MLA Martin McGuinness at the inauguration.
When President Higgins was re-elected in 2018, no invites were issued because power-sharing at Stormont had suspended.
The Assembly was also suspended in 2004 for the second inauguration of Mary McAleese.
President Higgins will remain in office until midnight on Monday, 10 November.
The Irish constitution stipulates that the incoming president must be inaugurated the day after the outgoing president’s term ends.
While First Minister and Sinn Féin MLA Michelle O’Neill will be in attendance, Little-Pengelly this evening confirmed she will not be attending.
Tuesday 11 November is Remembrance Day in the UK and Little-Pengelly said she is scheduled to attend a service in an Act of Remembrance in Stormont, before travelling to Windsor Castle for a special reception.
She added: “I wish Catherine Connolly well as she takes up the office, recognising that this is undoubtedly a significant personal honour for her and I hope to speak to her personally in the next number of days.”
— DUP (@duponline) November 7, 2025
However, the former leader of the Ulster Unionist Party Steve Aiken will be attending the inauguration on behalf of his party.
He’s currently an MLA for the UUP and remarked that he will use the occasion to “put our point across”.
“I’ve attended many official events in the Republic of Ireland and I will continue to do so,” he added.
I have been, I’m going (on behalf of @uuponline ),it’s the @PresidentIRL inauguration, our closest neighbour, I will use opportunity to put our point across, I will be with my fellow @BritishIrishPA I’ve attended many official events in RoI & will continue to do so @timcairns https://t.co/LcFk1pEkpf pic.twitter.com/gjVjTDZGzH
— Steve Aiken (@SRAikenUUP) November 7, 2025
On BBC NI’s The View last night, DUP MLA David Brooks was asked if Little-Pengelly would “follow the example set by her mentor Peter Robinson, who attended the inauguration of President Michael D Higgins, with Martin McGuinness”.
Brooks replied last night that this is something Little-Pengelly “will give due consideration to”.
"I have concerns around where the Irish Presidency is going."@DavidBrooksMLA tells @MarkCarruthers7 he is unsure whether the deputy First Minister @little_pengelly will attend the inauguration of the President of Ireland... pic.twitter.com/e1vdvjsVl0
— BBC The View (@bbctheview) November 6, 2025
When asked if he would be happy for Little-Pengelly to attend, Brooks said he would “have concerns, personally, around where the Irish presidency is going”.
He added: “There’s an element that has to be considered in terms of what the role is and whether that’s separate to the person.”
SDLP leader Claire Hanna was also on the show and said Brook’s answer was “disappointing” and an example of the DUP “going backwards”.
Hanna said that for Little-Pengelly to attend would be an “act of generosity” but Brooks claimed that these “acts of generosity are not the same from the south”.
Hanna then added that there’s “no doubt there was sectarianism aimed at Heather Humphreys”.
During the presidential campaign, Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys came under scrutiny in some quarters for her and her family’s participation in Orange Order events.
Speaking after losing the election, Humphreys said that she and her family received some “awful sectarian” abuse during the campaign.
“I would say that I found the piece about sectarianism very difficult,” she said during an appearance at the Cavan count centre.
“My family and I, but especially my family, were subject to some absolutely awful sectarian abuse and I was disappointed because as a country I thought we had moved on from that.”
She called for a “greater understanding of other traditions in this country” and added that this is “something that maybe I can contribute towards”.
Meanwhile, Brooks then remarked that President Higgins declined an invite to a church service in Co Armagh in 2021 to mark 100 years since the partition of Ireland.
The host of The View then noted that Michelle O’Neill will once again attend an official Remembrance Sunday ceremony in Belfast this weekend and lay a wreath at the Cenotaph.
However, Brooks replied: “The outgoing Irish president couldn’t come to a centenary church service for Northern Ireland, so there’s been disrespect for the Irish Republic shown towards Unionists for some time.”
President Higgins had said that on the day of the service, he had already agreed to host the Statistical and Social Inquiry Association of Ireland at Aras an Uachtaráin in Dublin.
He also defended his decision by remarking that the centenary of the founding of Northern Ireland is not “a neutral statement politically”.
Speaking in Belfast during the presidential election campaign, Humphreys said she would have attended that 2021 had she been president at the time.
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