Catherine Connolly, a leftwing, outspoken critic of the United States, was inaugurated as Ireland’s new president in Dublin on Tuesday after a landslide election win last month.
The 68-year-old barrister, whose term lasts seven years, becomes the 10th president since the Irish state was founded in 1922 after independence from Britain.
After receiving a seal of office at a ceremony in Dublin Castle, she formally replaced 84-year-old Michael Higgins who held the largely ceremonial post since 2011.
Higgins gained a reputation for pushing the limits of the presidency by commenting often on government policy, both domestic and foreign.
Connolly, who also criticises the European Union, said in her inauguration speech that Ireland’s history meant it was “well placed to lead and articulate alternative diplomatic solutions to conflict and war”.
An independent candidate backed by all the main leftist parties, Connolly cruised to victory in the October 24 vote.
She won 63 percent of valid first preference votes, well ahead of centrist rival Heather Humphreys of the governing Fine Gael party.
Nearly 13 percent of the 1.65 million ballots cast were “invalid”, a record in modern Irish elections.
Connolly galvanised a leftist youth vote impressed by her softly spoken but direct style and staunch pro-Palestinian views.
The fluent Irish speaker has vowed to raise Irish — an official language of the state but spoken by few people daily — to the primary language of the presidential residence.
Although Connolly’s role has limited political power, her tenure could nonetheless herald an era of increased friction between the presidency and government.
Connolly has pledged to prioritise progress towards unity between the Irish republic and Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill, of the leftist-nationalist Sinn Fein, was in the audience.
Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly of the pro-UK Democratic Unionist Party said she had a diary clash due to Remembrance Day commitments and declined the invitation.
AFP