{"id":406128,"date":"2026-04-19T04:29:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T04:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/406128\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T04:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T04:29:13","slug":"issues-over-international-protection-bill-says-connolly-on-first-visit-overseas-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/406128\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Issues\u2019 over international protection Bill, says Connolly on first visit overseas \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are \u201cissues in relation\u201d to the Government\u2019s international protection Bill, President Catherine Connolly<\/a> has said during her first overseas visit, describing the legislation as \u201cvery, very significant\u201d. <\/p>\n

Connolly is attending the Defence of Democracy event, a gathering of left-leaning political leaders in Barcelona<\/a>, organised by Spanish prime minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez and Brazilian<\/a> president Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The conference was described by one attendee on Saturday as the beginning of a worldwide \u201canti-Maga moment\u201d. <\/p>\n

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 \u2013 and has been strongly criticised by the Opposition and human rights bodies. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

\u201cI look forward to getting the advice of all the members of the Council of State,\u201d she said, adding that the Bill is \u201cvery, very significant\u201d.<\/p>\n

Asked if she had concerns about it she said: \u201cI think when a president calls a Council of State it\u2019s because there are issues in relation to it and that\u2019s why we have a Council of State.\u201d<\/p>\n

In guarded comments on disruptive fuel protests earlier this month, Connolly said the reasons for this month\u2019s fuel protests are a \u201cmatter for the politicians\u201d to examine.<\/p>\n

Asked if she had any sympathy for the protesters or the reasons they had offered for their actions, she said it was \u201calways very important to listen to people\u201d and that in a \u201cdemocratic state, no matter where that state is, all voices matter\u201d. <\/p>\n

Asked if the Barcelona meeting, which has gathered mainly left-leaning leaders from around the world, many from the global south, was an \u201canti Trump summit\u201d, Connolly told reporters it was \u201ca gathering of leaders to put the importance of defending democracy to the core of what we are\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe title [of the conference] tells you where we\u2019re at \u2013 and we have to ask ourselves: how have we come to this point that we need to have a conference in defence of democracy,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

She said the language of the UN charter, which champions human rights, was being challenged by language \u201cthat now champions \u2018might is right\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"AA 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 <\/p>\n

She suggested the UN charter had been undermined \u201cthrough 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\u201d, and that there was a collective responsibility for this.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe played our part by valuing stability over accountability, and consensus over candour.\u201d In the face of an \u201conslaught, 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\u201d. She said this can only be done by both supporting and reforming UN institutions. <\/p>\n

She said Ireland was \u201cuniquely placed\u201d due to its neutrality and colonial past to offer a \u201cvaluable perspective\u201d. <\/p>\n

There was unease in Government over Connolly\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n

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 Ant\u00f3nia Costa. <\/p>\n

Speaking on his arrival to the conference, Lammy said leaders from progressive parties were meeting in Barcelona \u201cat a time of extraordinary challenge globally, with rising prices as a result of conflict once again in the Middle East\u201d. <\/p>\n

He said it was important to meet, organise and discuss \u201con 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\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said it was important to meet when politicians on the right were \u201cvery well financed and organised together\u201d.<\/p>\n

Arriving at the conference, Austrian vice-chancellor Andreas Babler said it was an \u201calliance of reason, an alliance that cares about diplomatic values, international law, about multilateral co-operation \u2013 and therefore at this point here in Spain it marks the beginning of a big anti-Maga moment all over the world\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are \u201cissues in relation\u201d to the Government\u2019s international protection Bill, President Catherine Connolly has said during her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3656,61,1629,60,43,32238,2846],"class_list":{"0":"post-406128","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-catherine-connolly","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-immigration","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-pedro-sanchez","14":"tag-spain"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}