PRESIDENT CATHERINE CONNOLLY has cancelled her engagements today after her husband Brian McEnery took ill during an event yesterday. 

President Connolly was hosting a reception for members of the Diplomatic Corps at Áras an Uachtaráin yesterday. 

It’s understood that she and her husband had been in a receiving line greeting diplomats for around an hour and 15 minutes when he began to feel unwell. 

She had been due to give an address, but her speech was instead circulated to those attending the event. A spokesperson yesterday said it was a “private medical matter”. 

A spokesperson for Áras an Uachtaráin confirmed to The Journal today that two events President Connolly was due to attend today have been cancelled.

An engagement tomorrow in Connemara, Co Galway is still scheduled in her diary. 

Brian McEnery, a Co Clare native now in his early 70s, is a retired woodwork teacher. He spent more than three decades teaching in Galway. He and Connolly have been married for 33 years. 

Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee, UK ambassador Kara Owen and Ukrainian ambassador Larysa Gerasko attended yesterday’s event in the Áras. 

In her speech that was circulated, President Connolly said at this time of global uncertainty characterised by conflict, humanitarian and climate crises, and technological change, “we look to you as our friends and partners to deepen our engagement, to collaborate and cooperate to meet the challenges of our time”. 

While she did not name any countries, she said the consequence of ‘might is right’ is “now crystal clear before our eyes” as she outlined the importance of the United Nations. 

“Countries can be invaded at will, or threatened with invasion and the UN organisations doing invaluable work in extremely dangerous locations can be demolished on a whim,” she said.

“When this becomes the logic of international relations, language no longer protects the vulnerable; it simply records their fate.”

She also said Ireland “has demonstrated a strong commitment to global justice and the rule of international law” and said she believes the country “is uniquely placed to offer a valuable perspective as a neutral country, as a post-colonial society, and as a post-famine nation.”

The speech appealed to the diplomats present to “use the authority of your offices to restore clarity, courage, and truth to our common language” and “refuse euphemism where law has been broken”.