President Connolly gets Freedom of Galway
Uachtarán na hÉireann Catherine Connolly urged the people of Ireland to show leadership against war, inequality and poverty and reclaim the language of universal human rights.
The Shantalla native used her address at a ceremony to confer her with the 33rd Freedom of the City of Galway to focus on global unrest and emphasise Ireland’s unique position to challenge the ongoing attack on the structures that were set up to implement those rights.
Acknowledging the presence of previous recipients, President Michael D Higgins, businesspeople Mary Barrett, John Killeen and former broadcaster Keith Finnegan, she recalled that the first person conferred with Galway’s highest honour was the first elected president, Douglas Hyde, in 1939, the last day of peace in Europe before Germany invaded Poland.
“Following that horrific war, the overwhelming feeling was to never let this happen again. The strength of that feeling and the horror of that war led directly to the groundbreaking Charter of the United Nations in 1945, which established the structures of a new international order – the General Assembly, the Security Council and the International Court of Justice.
“Along with that, every member nation, large and small, committed to settle disputes peacefully and never again resort to the use of force,” she told the gathering in The Hardiman Hotel on Eyre Square.
“Building on that Charter, in 1948 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights set out, for the first time in human history, the rights belonging to every person. Not because of nationality or religion, or power, but because we are human.
“Eighty years on, not only are these very same structures under attack but also the universal principles on which they are based.
“Judges of the International Court of Justice are sanctioned for doing their work. UN rapporteurs are punished for telling the truth. Human rights organisations are designated as terrorist organisations. Countries are invaded at will.
“The structures built to prevent war are being undermined by the some of the very states that built them. In place of “all are equal,” we are back to the language of “might is right”. War itself is being normalised.”
Let’s not let it happen that our grandchildren will be reading in history books that we did nothing.
She said Galway and Ireland were uniquely placed to call out what was happening given our history of famine, emigration and conflict. She had witnessed the desire for peace while travelling across the country during her election campaign.
“Let’s not let it happen that our grandchildren will be reading in history books that we did nothing,” she exclaimed.
Galway City Council CEO Leonard Cleary said the President’s lifelong engagement with public life was tightly woven in Galway where she spent 17 years as a councillor focused on community, fairness and the importance of giving a voice to others. Her term as mayor highlighted issues that were about shaping the city’s future, among them housing, inclusiveness and accessibility.
Galway City Mayo Mike Cubbard (Ind) spoke about her upbringing in a close-knit family of 13 siblings which shaped a lifelong commitment to fairness, inclusion, and standing up for others.
“She earned a reputation for integrity, independence, and a strong sense of duty to the people she represented,” he enthused.
She signed the Scroll of Freedom, which contains the signatures of luminaries such as US presidents John F Kennedy, Ronald Regan and former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Attending the ceremony along with councillors garbed in ceremonial gowns – apart from Cllr Alan Curran (SocDems) – were newly elected Fine Gael TD Sean Kyne, party colleague Minister for Education and Youth of Ireland Hildegarde Naughton, former minister Éamon Ó Cuív (FF), Senator Ollie Crowe (FF) and former Fine Gael TD Brian Walsh.