{"id":76318,"date":"2025-10-12T19:09:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T19:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/76318\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T19:09:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T19:09:07","slug":"connolly-to-consider-publishing-correspondence-on-garda-clearance-for-employee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/76318\/","title":{"rendered":"Connolly to consider publishing correspondence on Garda clearance for employee"},"content":{"rendered":"

Catherine Connolly said she would consider publishing correspondence relating to her attempts to obtain security clearance for an employee convicted of a gun crime.<\/p>\n

The independent candidate, who has the backing of left-wing opposition parties, said questions being put to her about hiring a woman convicted of firearm offences have \u201cbackfired\u201d.<\/p>\n

She was asked about the story after appearing on a debate on RT\u00c9 Radio\u2019s This Week programme with Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys.<\/p>\n

\"IrishPresidential candidate Catherine Connolly (Brian Lawless\/PA)<\/p>\n

Asked after the debate if she would publish correspondence, she said: \u201cI\u2019ll take advice on that in terms of GDPR and that, but the email was simply asking where the process was at because it was taking so long, it was actually trying to elicit information, \u2018what is the delay?\u2019<\/p>\n

“Most of the emails are between the person, or whatever contact is between the person and the system in D\u00e1il \u00c9ireann, not with me, and I put in an email asking \u2018where is this at?’\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Humphreys said on RT\u00c9 Radio that Ms Connolly had \u201clegitimate\u201d questions to ask about hiring a woman for six months who was convicted by the Special Criminal Court for possessing firearms.<\/p>\n

As Garda clearance was pending, Ms Connolly gave her access daily for six months to the Houses of the Oireachtas.<\/p>\n

The woman then left of her own accord due to the length of time the security clearance process was taking.<\/p>\n

Ms Humphreys said on air: \u201cI\u2019d like to ask Catherine, did she ask that person what she was going to use the guns for, the member of Eirigi, who was convicted by the Special Criminal Court.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was brought into D\u00e1il \u00c9ireann without Garda approval, and we all know you have to have your staff vetted. This didn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Connolly replied: \u201cAllegations are being made again that I broke the rules or that the vetting has to be done before the person comes in, that\u2019s not accurate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really upset that this person\u2019s privacy has been absolutely trespassed upon for the purposes of trying to damage me. I believe it has backfired.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"IrishFine Gael Presidential candidate Heather Humphreys (Niall Carson\/PA)<\/p>\n

On European issues, Ms Connolly said she \u201ccampaigned actively\u201d and \u201cproudly\u201d against the Lisbon Treaty, but said she couldn\u2019t remember how she voted in other EU referenda.<\/p>\n

During the radio debate, Ms Humphreys said she had voted against \u201cevery European treaty\u201d, to which Ms Connolly replied, \u201cthat\u2019s absolutely wrong\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ms Connolly told the D\u00e1il in 2022 that she \u201cproudly\u201d canvassed against the Lisbon and Nice treaties due to concerns about \u201cthe militarisation of Europe\u201d.<\/p>\n

Asked after the radio debate if she had ever voted for an EU treaty, she said: \u201cProbably, yes. I\u2019d have to think back.<\/p>\n

\u201cLisbon stands out for me because I went out actively against it for two reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne was the military industry complex and the direction we were going, and the other was the blatant neoliberal ideology that sets out the price of everything and the value of nothing.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I have no recollection of canvassing against any other treaty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if she had ever objected to housing, she said: \u201cI never objected to housing. I might have put in submissions where I expressed my concerns, sharing the concerns of the residents, perhaps over my lifetime in politics, I don\u2019t know, that could have happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have never objected. I have shared concerns on occasions, not many, and after considerable time with the residents and meeting them and studying the plans.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Catherine Connolly said she would consider publishing correspondence relating to her attempts to obtain security clearance for an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-76318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76318","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=76318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}