There are “issues in relation” to the Government’s international protection Bill, President Catherine Connolly has said during her first overseas visit, describing the legislation as “very, very significant”.
Connolly is attending the Defence of Democracy event, a gathering of left-leaning political leaders in Barcelona, organised by Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez and Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The conference was described by one attendee on Saturday as the beginning of a worldwide “anti-Maga moment”.
Connolly has summoned the Council of State to advise her on the legislation, which the Coalition has said is the largest overhaul of the Irish system for receiving and processing applications for asylum – and has been strongly criticised by the Opposition and human rights bodies.
Under Article 26 of the Constitution, the President can summon the Council of State, a collection of high-level advisers, as she considers whether to sign a Bill into law or refer it to the Supreme Court to test its constitutionality.
“I look forward to getting the advice of all the members of the Council of State,” she said, adding that the Bill is “very, very significant”.
Asked if she had concerns about it she said: “I think when a president calls a Council of State it’s because there are issues in relation to it and that’s why we have a Council of State.”
In guarded comments on disruptive fuel protests earlier this month, Connolly said the reasons for this month’s fuel protests are a “matter for the politicians” to examine.
Asked if she had any sympathy for the protesters or the reasons they had offered for their actions, she said it was “always very important to listen to people” and that in a “democratic state, no matter where that state is, all voices matter”.
Asked if the Barcelona meeting, which has gathered mainly left-leaning leaders from around the world, many from the global south, was an “anti Trump summit”, Connolly told reporters it was “a gathering of leaders to put the importance of defending democracy to the core of what we are”.
“The title [of the conference] tells you where we’re at – and we have to ask ourselves: how have we come to this point that we need to have a conference in defence of democracy,” she said.
In her speech to the conference, which is also being attended by South African president Cyril Ramaphosa and Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum, Connolly gave a strong defence of the United Nations while warning democracy was under threat.
She said the language of the UN charter, which champions human rights, was being challenged by language “that now champions ‘might is right’”.
A number of world leaders, including President Catherine Connolly (front row, third from left) pose for a group photograph at Meeting in Defence of Democracy, a gathering in Barcelona of leftist leaders. Photograph: Oscar DEL POZO/AFP via Getty Images
She suggested the UN charter had been undermined “through the quiet retirement of inconvenient principles, and through our collective willingness to treat violations by powerful states as exceptional cases rather than the precedents that they have become”, and that there was a collective responsibility for this.
“We played our part by valuing stability over accountability, and consensus over candour.” In the face of an “onslaught, we have an obligation to stand together to defend the very institutions established to uphold human rights without qualification following the horrors of two World Wars”. She said this can only be done by both supporting and reforming UN institutions.
She said Ireland was “uniquely placed” due to its neutrality and colonial past to offer a “valuable perspective”.
There was unease in Government over Connolly’s choice of the summit as her first overseas trip, instead of the UK. Officials and politicians were also privately vexed that she was not visiting the Spanish capital nor meeting its head of state, as well as mingling with heads of government rather than non-executive heads of state.
There had also been concerns that the conference was not attended by UK or US representatives, although on Saturday UK deputy prime minister David Lammy was in attendance, as well as ministers from Germany and Austria, and EU council president Antónia Costa.
Speaking on his arrival to the conference, Lammy said leaders from progressive parties were meeting in Barcelona “at a time of extraordinary challenge globally, with rising prices as a result of conflict once again in the Middle East”.
He said it was important to meet, organise and discuss “on behalf of working people … to ensure working people wherever they are can get a good prospect in terms of their livelihoods and the livelihoods of their families”.
He said it was important to meet when politicians on the right were “very well financed and organised together”.
Arriving at the conference, Austrian vice-chancellor Andreas Babler said it was an “alliance of reason, an alliance that cares about diplomatic values, international law, about multilateral co-operation – and therefore at this point here in Spain it marks the beginning of a big anti-Maga moment all over the world”.