Gavan Reilly: Connolly’s first diary hints at the president she will be

This week’s column comes to you from the bowels of Dublin Castle, ahead of the inauguration of Catherine Connolly as the tenth president of Ireland.

As I draft, word has come through that the newly installed president will visit God’s favourite county on its first day: President Connolly’s first day will include visits to a gaelscoil in Inchicore, and then a stop at Trim Family Resource Centre before heading back towards Galway where she will visit the residents of a community nursing unit on Wednesday evening.

That the President is already taking up such a busy public schedule is in its own way an illustration of the approach Catherine Connolly will take. Time and attrition had meant Michael D Higgins’ second term could not be as visible or interactive as his first. Connolly wants to be a president among the people, not just of the people. That is to be lauded.

That circuit of visits is an echo of the campaign platform she took: Connolly’s public diary was not dotted with the same visits to local enterprises and businesses that an ‘orthodox’ campaign might have filled in. Instead it was visiting those who do not often get the spotlight: community centres in underprivileged eras, rehabilitation facilities, disability services. President Connolly will be true to her mandate if that’s the diary she continues to keep in office.

At this juncture, of course, we don’t know how much the President intends to entertain engagements with the media. Those of us who work in it would of course be keen to continue speaking to her regularly. But equally, those within government will be waiting with some bated breath to discover how vocal the new President is in office.

As a candidate, she was an open critic of Ireland’s economic, foreign and military policy. As our international standard bearer, will she toe the government’s line, or her own?