Catherine Connolly

Connolly was first elected to Galway City Council in the city west local electoral area in June 1999 and then re-elected in the city south local electoral area in 2004.[3] In the same year she was elected Mayor of Galway. She speaks fluent Irish.[4] Her sister, Collette, is a Galway City Councillor, co-opted to replace her when she was elected a TD.

She resigned from the Labour Party in 2006, when she was denied her wish to run alongside now-President Michael D. Higgins in Galway West.[5] She contested the 2007 general election, polling just over 2,000 votes.[5]

She contested the 2011 general election again in Galway West,[6] where she lost out on the last seat to Fine Gael's Seán Kyne by only 17 votes. She sought a full recount,[7] which concluded after a total of four days of counting but did not change the outcome.[8]

She was elected to the Dáil for the Galway West constituency at the 2016 general election. Her sister, Collette Connolly, was co-opted to Galway City Council in her place. She voted for Richard Boyd Barrett for Taoiseach, when the 32nd Dáil first met.[9] At the 32nd Dáil's second meeting on 5 April 2016, she made her maiden speech in which she criticised the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government Alan Kelly's handling of Ireland's homelessness crisis.[10]

Connolly sits on the Public Accounts Committee and is Chair of the Committee on the Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Islands.

Connolly is a patron of the People's Movement.[11]

Originally from Shantalla, Connolly has lived in the Claddagh since 1988, and is married with two children. A former barrister, she also previously worked as a Clinical Psychologist, with the Western Health Board in Ballinasloe, Galway and Connemara.

• Andrews, Kernan. "Connolly raises doubts over independence of crypto report", Galway Advertiser, 6 November 2008.