{"id":627032,"date":"2026-09-17T01:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T01:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/627032\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T01:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T01:50:12","slug":"connolly-returns-to-divisive-issue-of-northern-ireland-during-scotland-visit-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/627032\/","title":{"rendered":"Connolly returns to divisive issue of Northern Ireland during Scotland visit \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the second time in under a week, President Catherine Connolly <\/a>on Wednesday found herself discussing the future of Northern Ireland <\/a>in a meeting with a head of government. <\/p>\n

At \u00c1ras an Uachtar\u00e1in on Saturday, US president Donald Trump <\/a>voiced his support for a united Ireland during a private conversation with Connolly, before he said that unity would be a \u201cgreat thing\u201d. The comments caused a stir North and South of the Border \u2013 and disquiet among some in Westminster and Stormont. <\/p>\n

It came as no surprise, then, that Scottish first minister John Swinney <\/a>was keen to talk about \u201cself-determination and independence\u201d when he received Connolly at Bute House in Edinburgh at the outset of the President\u2019s four-day official visit to Scotland. <\/p>\n

Swinney, leader of the Scottish National Party, was back at base after a productive start to his week in Manchester. <\/p>\n

There, he, along with Sinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald<\/a>, her deputy Michelle O\u2019Neill, and Rhun ap Iorwerth of the nationalist Plaid Cymru, signed a memorandum calling on the British government to \u201cprepare for, plan and facilitate\u201d constitutional change in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. <\/p>\n

Swinney said he discussed the Manchester conference with Connolly: \u201cScotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are led by first ministers who all believe in the self-determination of their peoples and the right of their peoples to change their constitutional relationship with the United Kingdom.\u201d <\/p>\n

Some hours later, the President was at the Royal Society of Edinburgh, sitting under an imposing portrait of George III. During that monarch\u2019s reign, questions of self-determination were to the fore, as rebellious British colonies in North America sought \u2013 and secured \u2013 independence. Britain recognised the sovereignty of the United States of America in 1783.<\/p>\n

Following a brief ceremony, Connolly was inducted into the society as an honorary fellow \u2013 an honour previously bestowed on predecessors Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m honoured and privileged and I will do my best to live up to the honour you have bestowed on me. M\u00edle bu\u00edochas daoibh go l\u00e9ir,\u201d she told those assembled in the room. <\/p>\n

Earlier, Connolly had spent time at the National Library of Scotland, where she saw several artefacts in the collection. <\/p>\n

Among them was the final letter written by Mary, Queen of Scots before her execution in 1587, and the Iona Psalter, an illuminated Latin manuscript dating from the 13th century. <\/p>\n

The President also perused a diary kept by celebrated Scottish folklorist John Francis Campbell during a trip to Ireland in 1872, and letters written by pacifist and anti-nuclear activist Beth Junor. <\/p>\n

The President read aloud a line from one of Junor\u2019s papers: \u201cThe more diverse we are, the more powerful we are.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cVery powerful,\u201d offered Cllr Robert Aldridge, Lord Provost of Edinburgh, who had joined the President\u2019s library visit. <\/p>\n

Chris Cassells, head of archives and manuscripts at the library, guided Connolly through the collection\u2019s highlights.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to showcase material that is of particular significance within the library but also items that would speak to [the President\u2019s] personal interests, and also the shared cultural history between Scotland and Ireland,\u201d said Cassells. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the second time in under a week, President Catherine Connolly on Wednesday found herself discussing the future…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3656,969,61,60,77280,7428,43,2443,9036],"class_list":["post-627032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-catherine-connolly","tag-donald-trump","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-john-swinney","tag-king-charles","tag-news","tag-northern-ireland","tag-scotland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627032","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=627032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}