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ON THURSDAY EVENING, there was white smoke from the Labour Party’s virtual parliamentary party and executive board meeting: they would be backing Catherine Connolly in the presidential election.
It came after a consultation with party members, in which The Journal understands just under 60% of members supported backing Connolly.
Speaking after the meeting, Labour TD Ciarán Ahern, who has been appointed as the party’s co-ordinator with Connolly’s campaign, said they are backing her campaign “in the spirit of supporting the development and growth of the left across the country and demonstrating that an alternative politics is possible here”.
He continued: “While there are issues where we have differed with Deputy Connolly, we are determined that the social democratic values of equality, justice and tolerance should shape the Presidency over the next seven years and follow the legacy of Michael D Higgins.
“We believe that Catherine Connolly shares those values, and has put them into practice during her political career.”
While many people on the left will be pleased with this development, behind the scenes, the endorsement isn’t as glowing.
Speaking to The Journal, Labour sources revealed how, for some in the parliamentary party, the decision to back Connolly, a former Labour member, was a lacklustre one.
One TD, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Journal that the push to support Connolly was coming from leader Ivana Bacik.
They said others in the party were far less agreeable to the idea and made the point that at a recent meeting between Connolly and the Labour Party, she never specifically asked for their support — something that left a bad taste in the mouth of some.
Other TDs pushed back on this line of thinking, though, with one newer party representative claiming it is “some of the old guard” who are less enthusiastic about supporting Connolly.
One TD said any narrative that the party is “split” on the issue “couldn’t be further from the truth”.
“Ivana has done so much to try and pull this (a united left candidate) off over the last couple of months. And so now it’s a case of getting on with it,” they said.
Another source said: “My main thing is I don’t want a centre-right candidate to be president and I will do anything in my power to prevent that.”
Asked if the parliamentary party meeting was heated this week, the same source said: “No, to be honest, I was bored halfway through. Is a Zoom meeting ever heated?”
Connolly’s history with the Labour Party is a difficult one.
The Galway West TD was a Labour councillor before leaving the party in 2006 when she was denied a chance to run in the 2007 general election as future president Michael D Higgins’ running mate.
When she was elected to the Dáil for the first time in 2016, Connolly said the Labour Party had “lost its soul”.
The Labour Party took their time in coming to a decision on whether to back Connolly in this year’s Presidential election, and in the weeks after her name was first floated, some party sources signalled that they didn’t think she was the best candidate because of some of her previous foreign policy positions.
Specifically, sources pointed to her stance on Syria in the past and a visit to the country in 2017, under the Bashar al-Assad regime, alongside then-TDs Clare Daly, Mick Wallace and Maureen O’Sullivan.
Following the visit, Connolly called for sanctions on the country to be lifted in the Dáil, arguing that it was the ordinary people of Syria who were being most punished for the brutal policies of Assad.
Speaking ahead of the announcement that Labour would be backing Connolly, one TD told The Journal that while it might happen, it would be support “in name only” and that it would be unlikely that many party members would actively campaign for her.
A newer member of the party took a different view, telling The Journal: “I will actively campaign for her, I don’t think everyone will, but this campaign is going to be led by civil society, a bit like repeal or the marriage referendum.”
Asked about Connolly’s past comments about the Labour Party, the same source said: “I couldn’t care less about that.
“Yes, she said we lost our soul, but look, in 2016 we had just gone through a rough time after being in government. I would argue that after that period, we rediscovered our soul under Ivana Bacik. She is one of the most successful party leaders we’ve had in the last 15 years.”
On Connolly not specifically asking for Labour’s support, the TD said: “It wasn’t an explicit ‘I am asking you for your support’, but she did say she would love it, or something to that effect.”
Overall, the TD took the view that the Left needs to compromise if it wants to unite, including those with divergent views in the Labour Party.
The presidential election must take place before 11 November 2025 but no date has been confirmed. So far, the only two official candidates are Catherine Connolly and Fine Gael’s Mairead McGuinness.
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