First Gentleman will be buzzing with the bees!
Catherine Connolly’s husband Brian McEnery is a keen beekeeper who may manage Áras an Uachtaráin’s first colony of honeybees in their new home for the next seven years.
Memorably described by President Connolly as ‘my current husband’ during a lighter moment on the Presidential Election campaign trail, Mr McEnery is a motorbike enthusiast and owner of a Harley Davidson.
Based in the Claddagh, they have been married for over 30 years and have two adult sons, Stephen and Brian Thomas.
All three men are deeply private individuals who politely declined to participate in interviews with the Tribune.
They were not visible during the Presidential Election campaign, but the trio were supportive and fully backed President Connolly’s decision to contest.
All three were regulars at count centres during her local and Dáil election campaigns down through the years.
Mr McEnery – pronounced energy but without the ‘G’ – is from near Ennis in County Clare and shares similar interests with his wife: cycling, running and rollerblading.
An active member of Claddagh Residents’ Association, he held many positions including chair.
They met in Ballinasloe where he was working for 25 years as a woodwork and drawing teacher at Garbally College, and she was a clinical psychologist working in the East Galway town.
He later moved to St Joseph’s (The Bish) in the city where he worked for nine years until he retired in 2009.
Mr McEnery did promotional work for local heart charity Croí, after he suffered a stroke in 2012, and spent over three months recovering in hospital.
It’s unclear what role Mr McEnery will fulfil as ‘first gentleman’ but he was spotted by the then President-Elect’s side at Oireachtas na Samhna, an Irish language celebration, in Belfast the weekend before last during her first public appearance since the election.
It remains unclear whether their two cats, Cat One and Cat Two, will join them in Phoenix Park.
Pictured: Newly elected Mayor of Galway, Councillor Catherine Connolly, with her husband Brian McEnery in June 2004.