GLOBAL — Independent left-wing politician Catherine Connolly was inaugurated as the 10th President of Ireland on Tuesday, 11 November 2025, in a ceremony at Dublin Castle, commencing her seven-year term at approximately 3:00 PM EAT. Her presidency is widely seen by cultural advocates as a potentially transformative moment for the Irish language, also known as Gaelic, following her landslide election victory on Friday, 24 October 2025.

Connolly, a 68-year-old former barrister and fluent Irish speaker from Galway, secured a historic 63.4% of first-preference votes, the largest margin in a contested Irish presidential election. Her victory over centre-right rival Heather Humphreys, whose self-admitted lack of fluency in Irish became a point of contrast during the campaign, has brought the language to the forefront of national discourse. In a pre-election questionnaire with the language advocacy group Conradh na Gaeilge, Connolly pledged to make Irish the working language of the presidency. "I will do my best to bring Irish in from the margins and use it," she also told the Irish language radio station Raidió na Gaeltachta.

The Irish presidency is a largely ceremonial role, with the Head of State holding specific constitutional powers but not an executive or policy-making role. However, recent presidents have used the office as a significant platform for social and cultural issues. Connolly is expected to continue this trend, using her position to champion the language as well as other social and international issues. "She has brought the language to the centre of national debate," Conchúr Ó Muadaigh, a spokesperson for Conradh na Gaeilge, stated. "She doesn’t treat it as a cultural afterthought or decoration. It’s something she genuinely believes in."

A Language at a Crossroads

The Irish language holds a unique and complex position in the nation's identity. Enshrined in the Irish Constitution as the first official language, its use declined dramatically under British rule in the 19th century and continued to wane even after independence. According to the 2022 census in the Republic of Ireland, while 1.87 million people (39.8% of the population) reported some ability to speak Irish, the number of daily speakers outside of the education system was just 71,968.

Despite the low number of daily speakers, the language has experienced a significant cultural renaissance in recent years, particularly in the arts. This revival is exemplified by the critical and commercial success of the 2022 film "An Cailín Ciúin" (The Quiet Girl), the first Irish-language film to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. The movie's success has been seen as a new horizon for Irish-language cinema. Similarly, the Belfast-based, Irish-language rap trio Kneecap has gained international attention, using hip-hop to engage a younger generation with the language and address contemporary political issues.

Global Context and Relevance

While the revival of the Irish language is a domestic issue for Ireland, it resonates with broader global conversations about cultural heritage, decolonisation, and the preservation of indigenous languages. Many nations, including Kenya, grapple with the challenge of maintaining and promoting indigenous languages alongside dominant colonial or global languages. The Irish experience, with its constitutional protections, state-backed media like the television channel TG4, and grassroots advocacy, offers a case study in the complexities of language revitalisation.

Connolly's presidency is seen by supporters as an opportunity to elevate the status of the language from a cultural symbol to a living, breathing part of modern Irish life. Her commitment to using Irish in her official duties represents a significant symbolic act. As Ó Muadaigh of Conradh na Gaeilge noted, Connolly's advocacy is part of her "solidarity with indigenous struggles against decolonisation." Her term will be closely watched, both within Ireland and internationally, as a measure of the potential for political leadership to influence cultural and linguistic tides.