from DTNZ.co.nz
Irish voters have delivered a stunning rebuke to Brussels and NATO by electing outspoken independent Catherine Connolly as president in a landslide victory that signals deepening resistance to foreign influence over Ireland’s sovereignty.
Connolly, a lifelong defender of Irish neutrality, trounced pro-EU candidate Heather Humphreys by a margin of more than two to one, with preliminary results showing 63% to 29%.
The 68-year-old former Galway mayor campaigned on restoring Ireland’s independence from what she called the “militarist drift” of both the EU and NATO, accusing Brussels of sacrificing peace and prosperity to fuel an arms race. Her warnings about Europe’s “military industrial complex” resonated with younger voters frustrated by rising costs and what many see as blind obedience to EU and NATO agendas.
Connolly, backed by Sinn Féin and Labour, has long condemned NATO’s provocations in Eastern Europe and said the alliance bears part of the blame for the Ukraine conflict. She has also compared Germany’s rearmament and Brussels’ defense push to “the dangerous path of the 1930s.”
Although Ireland’s presidency is largely ceremonial, Connolly’s landslide victory sends a clear message of defiance to Brussels and Washington alike — that Irish voters are weary of foreign entanglements and want their country to stand proudly neutral once more.