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The Journal
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Journal
FactFind: What do we know about Catherine Connolly's visit to Syria in 2018?
A VISIT TO Syria by Catherine Connolly has been referenced frequently since she became the first candidate to publicly declare this week that she would run in the upcoming presidential election. The trip, which involved visits to areas controlled by the since-toppled Assad regime as a civil war still raged across Syria, has been cited as a potential source of controversy. Irish-Syrian are reported to have urged the Labour Party not to back Connolly's attempt to get on the ballot, the Irish Times reported today . While facts about the trip had been scant, Connolly answered questions from reporters about the trip at her campaign launch on Wednesday. What exactly did she say, does it tally with what we had already known, and why does it have the potential to become controversial? The facts Connolly went to Syria in June 2018, along with TDs Clare Daly, Mick Wallace, and Maureen O'Sullivan. Images of the politicians were posted on the social media channels of Syrian organisations and news outlets on 27 June that year. These images indicated that they visited the city of Aleppo, as well as the ruins of Yarmouk, a Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus that was destroyed during the civil war. Both those areas were controlled by the Assad regime during the time of the delegation's visit. Bashar al-Assad subsequently fled to Russia in late 2024, collapsing the Syrian government and ending his family's 50-year rule over the country. The new Syrian government, run by a coalition of rebels led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), has promised a new constitution and elections , though their first months of rule have been marred by violence . Speaking in the Dáil in July 2018, Mick Wallace said that 'a group of Independents 4 Change travelled to Syria last week'. (Connolly and O'Sullivan were in a technical group with Independents 4 Change, though were not members of the political party). Daly then confirmed 'we spent the past week with some of our colleagues in Syria'. Both TDs mentioned the visit to Aleppo, though neither mentioned Connolly by name. Nor was Connolly mentioned by name in Syrian social media posts, though she can be seen in photos taken at Aleppo. Catherine Connolly, Clare Daly, and Mick Wallace in Aleppo in 2018. In an interview with the Dublin Gazette published on 12 July, Daly is described as visiting Syria with 'other Independent TDs – Mick Wallace, Maureen O'Sullivan and Catherine Connolly – along with around 15 other people, including some who had been involved in the Irish Palestine Solidarity campaign'. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Connolly confirmed that she was one of four TDs who went on the trip, along with 'a number of community activists'. Who was involved Although the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign is frequently mentioned in news reports referencing the trip, it did not officially have any involvement. In a statement to The Journal , the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign said: 'The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) did not organise, endorse, or participate in, any trip to Syria and has no specific knowledge regarding the trip in question. 'The IPSC does not arrange fact-finding delegations to any states, nor does it engage in trips sponsored by states or quasi-state actors. We were not contacted or invited on this, or any other trip to Syria, and we have never had any contact with the former or current Syrian governments, nor with anyone acting on behalf of either.' In an email to The Journal , a spokesperson for the campaign also clarified that they were unsure if any IPSC members took part in a private capacity. They noted that people sometimes say they are part of 'the 'Irish Palestine solidarity campaign' or whatever, when what they actually mean is they're part of the wider Palestine solidarity movement in Ireland'. A spokesperson for Connolly said that the trip had been coordinated by a number of pro-Palestinian activists. Advertisement During her speech in the Dáil in July 2018, Daly indicated that the TDs all paid for themselves (none had declared the trip as a gift in their declaration of interests for that year). 'For the record, we paid for ourselves, went where we liked and talked to whom we liked,' Daly said. On Wednesday, Connolly also stated that she had funded her own trip. Motivations Given her lack of public comments on the trip, it had until this week been unclear exactly what Connolly's motivations for going were. However, she did make comments on a previous trip to Syria taken by Daly and Wallace's in 2017. Speaking against sanctions on Syria in the Dáil in December 2017 , Connolly mentioned that previous trip taken to Syria by Daly and Wallace. 'I thank Deputies Wallace and Daly and the small number of others who accompanied them to Syria and saw for themselves the circumstances on the ground. Perhaps the Minister will listen to them. There is no propaganda here,' Connolly said. 'It is following a visit to Syria and a tremendous amount of research that we stand here tonight to say we do not support the sanctions.' The EU lifted all economic sanctions against Syria in May 2025 after the fall of the Assad government. However, Connolly on Wednesday clarified that she went on the 2018 trip 'for the purpose of fact-finding' and initially attempted to visit a refugee camp outside Beirut in Lebanon, though had been unsuccessful. Connolly said that during the trip she met 'no member of [the Syrian] government', and confirmed she had been at the refugee camp in Damascus, as well as Aleppo. 'We met the chamber of commerce,' she said. 'We had a meeting with Unicef. We went into a convent and met a nun.' She summarised, 'On no occasion had I anything to do with the government, nor did I utter one word of support for Assad.' A spokesperson said Connolly has had no contact with the Assad regime since. Christina Finn / X (Formerly Twitter) Controversy There is some controversy over the trip, as certain groups have argued that visiting areas in Syria under the Assad regime could be stage-managed propaganda. Daly denied that this was the case in her Dáil speech. What we know Photos published on Syrian social media accounts show Daly and Wallace being shown around the Yarmouk refugee camp by men dressed in military fatigues. A spokesperson for Connolly said that these were members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GP), which fought on the side of Assad during the civil war. The PFLP is now, and was in 2018 , designated a terrorist organisation by the EU. The Irish tour group was also shown around Aleppo by the pro-Assad commentator Fares Al-Shehabi, who was described as the head of the city's chamber of commerce. Al-Shehabi, who appears in photos with Connolly, had been put under sanctions by the EU for supporting the Assad regime. The year before the Irish delegation's visit, he posted on social media that a seven-year-old who said Assad was committing a Holocaust should die. He would later go on to say that anti-Assad journalists should be raped . Speaking in the Dáil the week after the trip, Daly called for the government to issue a visa to Al-Shehabi 'so that he might come to Ireland as a businessman and Sunni Muslim who believes in secular values and talk about what has happened in Syria'. A spokesperson for Connolly said that the tour and its itinerary were arranged by a travel agency that had been active in Syria for decades. Meeting with Al-Shehabi was 'not an endorsement', a spokesperson said, and Connolly 'wasn't entirely aware of who he was' at the time. The spokesperson also said that, before, Connolly only had a idea of what a refugee camp was, but the trip 'opened her eyes to the reality of displacement.' Want to be your own fact-checker? Visit our brand-new FactCheck Knowledge Bank for guides and toolkits The Journal's FactCheck is a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network's Code of Principles. You can read it here . For information on how FactCheck works, what the verdicts mean, and how you can take part, check out our Reader's Guide here . You can read about the team of editors and reporters who work on the factchecks here . Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... It is vital that we surface facts from noise. Articles like this one brings you clarity, transparency and balance so you can make well-informed decisions. We set up FactCheck in 2016 to proactively expose false or misleading information, but to continue to deliver on this mission we need your support. Over 5,000 readers like you support us. If you can, please consider setting up a monthly payment or making a once-off donation to keep news free to everyone. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Independent
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Independent
United Ireland ‘very soon' says Catherine Connolly as she launches Presidency campaign with bid to woo Sinn Féin
Ms Connolly defended a trip to Syria with Mick Wallace, Clare Daly and Maureen O'Sullivan when dictator Bashir al-Assad was in power, and said she was "right at the time" when she previously backed journalist Gemma O'Doherty for a Presidential run. The Galway West Independent rejected the idea that she was the "continuity candidate" after 14 years of Michael D Higgins, for whom she wanted to be a running mate. She left the Labour Party when that bid was rejected, saying it had lost its soul - but refused to answer questions about taking its money for her campaign, which she believes will cost between €500,000 and €1 million. Ms Connolly, a former leas cheann comhairle, became emotional when she recalled seeing Catholic refugees from Northern Ireland arrive in Galway in the late summer of 1969. 'I think Northern Ireland is extremely important. I think we're going to have united Ireland very soon," Ms Connolly said in response to a suggestion from the Irish Independent that she had been described as a republican socialist. "I think the Good Friday Agreement has set the framework for that," she said, adding that she would welcome the backing of Sinn Féin. "I think tremendous work has been done on the ground with cross-border bodies, and I look forward to the day when we have a united Ireland," Ms Connolly said. But she added: "I absolutely value the diversity, and we must value the different backgrounds in Northern Ireland." Asked if there was any difference between her position and that of Sinn Féin, she said: "I can tell you my position. You're left to kind to compare and contrast that, which will fail. "But I grew up in Galway and witnessed the refugees coming to Galway. I was young at the time, and they came down, and they were put up in various colleges - and I witnessed their terror, their upset, and their utter desire for peace,' she said. So far the only other confirmed candidate is former MEP Mairéad McGuinness, who will run for Fine Gael. Neither Fianna Fáil nor Sinn Féin have decided whether they will run a candidate, while Labour is currently deciding whether to back Ms Connolly after she met them earlier this week. Ms Connolly said she was "fully ready now for the campaign", adding: "We don't have a huge, big machine, and I think we have conviction". So far backed by Independents and the Social Democrats, she added: "We believe in what we're doing, and I think we are happy to put forward that vision." Social Democratic support had "come from the ground up, and I understand it's similar with People Before Profit", Ms Connolly said. She said she was going to discuss the Presidential salary with her team. "There are lots of decisions to make here about the campaign and how I use the salary is one of those,' she said. "A I can say at this point is I have stood as a woman who speaks bluntly and who speaks as honestly as I can." She was asked about the war in Ukraine, and said the Russian invasion was "wrong, illegal and unacceptable", adding "we need to find a voice for diplomacy. We need to get peace." She added, however: "I think could have been prevented beforehand. What they've done is utterly wrong. It's just inexcusable. But I think we could have worked before that in terms of diplomacy." She said her clapping for a live video address by Volodomyr Zelensky to the Dáil had been scrutinised, and how long it had lasted. "I stood and I clapped, and the level of interest from certain quarters in the media was that I didn't clap long enough and I didn't clap hard enough," she said. "I was nauseous at the war. I would have stood in silence." She refused to comment on rival contender Ms McGuinness, except to say: "My views on the Fine Gael party are well-known.' Standing outside Leinster House, Ms Connolly added: "I'm going to be presenting myself as a credible candidate for the Presidency with my views, with my track record, and my work ethic. "That's what I will be presenting before the people, and I would hope the people would respond to that."
Irish Times
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Who is Catherine Connolly? The outspoken left-wing campaigner running for president
Left-wing Independent TD Catherine Connolly has never held back when it comes to expressing her views, whether on Irish neutrality, women's rights or the war in Gaza. In May, she commented regarding the Government's plans to scrap the triple lock for deploying troops overseas that Ireland's neutrality is threatened 'by the warmongering military industrial complex' in Europe. She was vocal in the lead-up to the abortion referendum in 2018, insisting the Eighth Amendment 'simply has to go' and it is 'time to trust women to make decisions'. Just this month in the Dáil she spoke out on the war in Gaza, accusing Israel of being a 'genocidal state'. READ MORE The Gaeilgeoir Galway West TD, who turns 68 this month, is expected to get enough nominations from the Oireachtas to feature on the ballot paper in this year's presidential election. A barrister and clinical psychologist, she is widely respected by many in politics. However, Connolly can also be a divisive figure. An ally of former MEPs Clare Daly and Mick Wallace , she can expect to face questions on a trip she took with them to Syria during dictator Bashar al-Assad 's time in power. [ Catherine Connolly says she plans to launch presidential election bid next week Opens in new window ] There is also no love lost between her and her former party, Labour . She was elected to Galway City Council in 1999, but left the party in 2006 when it denied her a chance to run in the 2007 general election as Michael D Higgins 's running mate. Now she hopes to succeed Mr Higgins as president. First elected to the Dáil in 2016, Ms Connolly said at the time that Labour had 'lost its soul'. Regardless of the history, the party has invited her to address members next week as part of the nominations process. Ultimately, she will likely not need Labour's backing to reach the requirement of 20 TDs' and Senators' support to enter the race for Áras an Uachtaráin. Connolly served and Leas-Cheann Comhairle in the last Dáil and she remains a prominent member of the Dáil's powerful Public Accounts Committee (PAC) . [ The presidential race is (finally) hotting up as one serious contender throws her hat in ring Opens in new window ] A frequent critic of successive governments, there was little chance that Connolly would be involved in Coalition formation talks after the last election. She said at the time she did not think Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael would 'seriously engage' with her on 'radical change' in housing policy and other issues, such as her opposition to US troops using Shannon. Should she be successful in her election bid, it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that this outspoken figure could cause headaches to the Government during her term in office.
Russia Today
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Hypocritical EU ‘totally complicit in Gaza genocide'
The EU has shown unwavering support for Israel's 'genocide' in Gaza while failing to uphold international law or acknowledge the scale of Palestinian suffering, Mick Wallace, a former member of the European Parliament for Ireland, has said. Speaking to RT on Monday, Wallace accused Brussels of being 'totally complicit,' adding that the word 'complicit' was probably not strong enough. 'As far as I'm concerned, the EU has enabled and supported the genocide in Gaza 100%,' he stated. He singled out European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola for granting Israel a 'blank check' in the days after the October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel. 'Neither of them has said one word of criticism of Israel yet,' he said. While public opposition to the war continues across Europe, Wallace says EU leaders have aligned themselves with what he described as the 'Zionist settler-colonial project.' Asked about an EU External Action Service review suggesting Israel may have violated human rights, Wallace dismissed the prospect of any response, 'because Israel has them in their pocket.' He pointed to the staggering number of Palestinians – including tens of thousands of children – killed by Israeli forces, yet 'the EU institutions still refused to condemn Israel.' But when images of starvation surfaced, EU officials abruptly declared it was 'wrong to starve the Palestinians,' he said. 'Is it okay to bomb them morning, noon, and night, but not starve them?' Wallace accused the EU leadership of having 'no morals' and 'no interest in international law anymore.' Commenting on reports that EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas may propose a formal response to Israel's actions, Wallace scoffed: 'Come on. You wouldn't give her a job in a coffee shop... She hasn't a clue.' The EU's association agreement with Israel includes a human rights clause, but Wallace said it has no real effect. 'Not one single member state has broken business links with Israel yet,' he said. 'The hypocrisy is dripping out of the place.' Asked about Germany's role as Israel's top EU arms supplier, Wallace responded: 'I would hold every EU member state culpable… The genocide is happening because both the US and Europe have given it full support.' The conflict began with Hamas' assault on southern Israel in October 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 250 were taken hostage. Of those, 50 remain in Gaza, with fewer than half still alive. Israel's military response has killed at least 57,000 people in the enclave, mostly civilians, over the past 21 months, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
Saba Yemen
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Saba Yemen
International Political Figures Arrive in Sana'a to Participate in Palestine Conference
Sana'a - Saba: Former members of the European Parliament, Mick Wallace and Claire, and the head of the Center for Quds Studies in Malaysia, Aminu Rashidi, arrived at Sana'a International Airport today to participate in the third conference, "Palestine: The Central Issue of the Nation," which begins tomorrow, Saturday, in the capital, Sana'a. In a statement to the Yemeni News Agency (Saba), the former members of the European Parliament and the head of the Center for Quds Studies expressed their appreciation to Yemen, its leadership, government, and people, for hosting the international conference, "Palestine: The Central Issue of the Nation," to highlight the injustices suffered by the Palestinian people, their just cause, and the Israeli attacks targeting Islamic holy sites in Quds. They praised Yemen's supportive stance toward the Palestinian people and cause, as well as its continued support for the resistance in Gaza. They called for unified positions against plans aimed at liquidating the Palestinian cause and displacing Palestinians from their land and homeland. They expressed hope that the international community would fulfill its role and assume its responsibilities regarding the crimes and violations suffered by the Palestinian people. They were received by the Chairman of the Conference Preparatory Committee, Dr. Abdul Rahim Al-Hamran, the Chairman of the Conference International Relations Committee, Abdullah Abu Al-Rijal, the Chairman of the Reception Committee, Saleh Al-Khawlani, and the Communications Committee Official of the Relations Committee, Dr. Fouad Al-Ghafari. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print more of (Local)
