Catherine Connolly sworn in as 10th president of Ireland – Europe live

12.54pm GMT

Connolly continues:

“I look forward to paying my first official visit to the North and meeting with people from all communities and celebrating the rich and heritage and traditions of all who live there.
I am particularly conscious of Article Three of the constitution, which sets out in detail the firm wish of the Irish people, the Irish nation, to have a united Ireland, albeit with the conditions set out very clearly in that article concerned.
As President, I will foster an inclusive and open dialogue across the island in a manner that highlights and recognises our similarities and respects our differences.”

She also pays tribute to “our large and growing diaspora,” saying “there is hardly a family on this island that does not have a personal experience of migration.”

“On every continent, our immigrants have put their ingenuity and hard work at the service of new homelands, yet they have kept their love of Ireland and its culture deep in their hearts. I hope over the next seven years that there will be many opportunities for me to celebrate with them and share our experiences the experiences.”

Updated at 12.56pm GMT

12.51pm GMT
We face ‘existential threat’ of climate change, ongoing wars, Connolly warns

But Connolly’s speech then turns to challenges facing Ireland.
She says:

“Now, in 2025, as I assume the privilege of office, we face existential threat of climate change and the threat of ongoing wars, both, of course, are inextricably linked.
As I speak, I am acutely conscious of the 165 million people currently forcibly displaced from their homes and countries due to war, famine and climate change. We cannot turn back the clock, nor close our eyes to these realities.
These are the challenges of our times, and our actions, our inaction, will determine the world our children and grandchildren will inherit. It is both an individual and a collective challenge and one which obliges us to reflect on the way we live and interact with our world and with each other.”

She pays tribute to te Remembrance Day today, saying “it gives us the opportunity to pause and to reflect on the horrors of war.”
She says:

“The normalisation of war and genocide has never been and will never be acceptable to us as a sovereign independent nation.
With the long and cherished tradition of neutrality and an uninterrupted record of peacekeeping since 1958, Ireland is particularly well placed to lead and articulate alternative diplomatic solutions to conflict and war.
Indeed, our experience of colonisation and resistance of a catastrophic man made famine and forced immigration gives us a lived understanding of dispossession, hunger and war and a mandate for Ireland to lead.”

She says “we can and should take real pride in the success of the Good Friday agreement, knowing that this is recognised far and wide, and is a model for the peaceful resolution of conflict.”

Updated at 12.56pm GMT

12.48pm GMT
'We can breath and relax' now, president Connolly jokes

Adding a bit of personal touch to what is a formal ceremony, Connolly begins her speech joking: “we can breath a little and relax” now.
She then says:

“I stand before you humbly and proudly as the 10th president of this beautiful country.
The people have spoken and have given their president a powerful mandate to articulate their vision for a new republic, a republic worthy of its name, where everyone is valued, and diversity is cherished; where sustainable solutions are urgently implemented, and where a home is a fundamental human right.
The change that led to this joyful day began with a small group of elected representatives and volunteers, facing what appeared to be insurmountable challenges. We were led to believe that it was too great a leap that our ideas were too far out, too, left, at odds with the prevailing narrative.
In shared conversations all over the country, wowever, it became evident that the dominant narrative did not reflect or represent people’s values and concerns. Time and time again, people spoke of how it served to silence, to other, to label, to exclude and to stifle critical thinking.

She adds that “along with meaningful engagement, we saw the emergence of hope, the emergence of joy, along with the courage and determination of people to use their voices to shape a country that we can be proud of.”
She pledges to “ensure that all voices are represented, heard and valued and promote a public discourse that nourishes inclusivity, tolerance and active citizenship.”
She also pays tribute to the first female Irish president, Mary Robinson, who is in attendance.

Related: Mary Robinson elected first female president of Ireland – archive, 1990

12.44pm GMT

Taisoeach Micheál Martin gives a brief speech, welcoming the new president into the office.
He says that “in the context of a record of outstanding public service, I have no doubt that President Connelly will serve our country well.”
He adds he looks forward to working together “in the time ahead as Ireland continues to play a significant role on the global stage, and as we look forward to hosting the European Union presidency in the second half of 2026.”
He also reminds that “you also represent the longest unbroken chain of democratically elected heads of state in any European country.”
“Over the last nine decades, our country has overcome many extraordinary challenges. Where other countries fell into the hands of extremism, the Irish people remained resilient in their commitment to our democracy,” he says.
He also thanks the outgoing president Michael D. Higgins and his wife, Sabina, for their service.

12.38pm GMT
Catherine Connolly is 10th president of Ireland

And we’re now on to the main part of the ceremony, with Connolly making a formal declaration required to take the office.

In the presence of Almighty God I, Catherine Connolly, do solemnly and sincerely promise and declare that I will maintain the Constitution of Ireland and uphold its laws, that I will fulfil my duties faithfully and conscientiously in accordance with the Constitution and the law, and that I will dedicate my abilities to the service and welfare of the people of Ireland. May God direct and sustain me.

(Connolly has chosen to make it in Irish.)
She’s just read it and signed it now, formally becoming the 10th president of Ireland.
The presidential standard rises over the Dublin Castle.

12.16pm GMT

The Christian, Jewish, Islamic and humanist officiating representatives commence the service of prayer and reflection as part of the inauguration ceremony in St Patrick’s Hall.
A Church of Ireland Anglican archbishop of Dublin, Michael Jackson, prayed for “discernment, wisdom, and grace” for the president-elect and called for collaboration “to ensure that Ireland become a society and that the world become a place of justice, love and peace.”
Irish Catholic archbishop of Dublin prelate Dermot Farrell prayed for “the values of decency, fairness and mutual respect [to] thrive in our communities.”
Other religious leaders follow.

Updated at 12.20pm GMT

12.01pm GMT

… or you can watch this video to get a brief profile of Ireland’s new president.

12.00pm GMT
Who is Catherine Connolly? – profile

The independent candidate’s smooth campaign has enthused younger voters but her views on Nato and Hamas may concern European allies.
She pledged to be a “president for all” after securing 63% of the first preference votes, a stunning result that shook the political establishment and will make her the republic’s 10th head of state.
“I will be a voice for peace, a voice that builds on our policy of neutrality, a voice that articulates the existential threat posed by climate change,” she said at Dublin Castle night after being declared the victor of the election.
The 68-year-old former barrister vowed to advocate for those who had no voice.
“Our public and democracy needs constructive questioning,” she said, speaking in Irish and English. “Together, we can shape a new republic that values everybody, that values and champions diversity and that takes confidence in our own identity.”

Related: Leftwinger Catherine Connolly wins Ireland presidential election by landslide

The presidency is a largely ceremonial post, but opponents worry Connolly could offend Ireland’s European allies and shudder at what she might say to Donald Trump.
She has accused Nato of warmongering, likened Germany’s arms spending to the 1930s, voted against EU treaties and said Hamas is “part of the fabric of the Palestinian people”. Outsiders have compared her to Jeremy Corbyn.
Born in the working-class Galway suburb of Shantalla, Connolly was nine when her mother died, leaving her father, a carpenter and shipbuilder, to raise 14 children. Connolly tried to fill the void by telling herself it was better to be without a mother. “As life went on, I realised that was a coping mechanism that served me to a point, but not well,” she told Hot Press magazine. “It takes nearly a lifetime to understand, actually, the importance of a mother and the consequences of losing her.”
After earning a master’s degree in psychology from the University of Leeds she returned to Galway, completed a law degree and practised as a barrister and clinical psychologist.
She married, had two sons, and was elected to Galway city council for the Labour party in 1999. She served as mayor in 2004 and wanted to run for the Dáil but her potential running mate, Higgins, reportedly did not want another Labour candidate in the multi-seat constituency, leaving her blocked.
Connolly left the party and was elected as an independent TD, or MP, in 2016. In parliament she lambasted inequality and western intervention in conflicts, including Syria, which she visited in 2018. “She was outspoken and quite radical but in person quite affable,” recalled one Fine Gael member. Some former Labour colleagues, however, called her dogmatic and inflexible.
In 2020 Connolly became the first woman elected as parliament’s leas-cheann comhairle, or deputy speaker. This elevated her profile, but when she announced in July that she would run for president it seemed quixotic. Only two tiny parties, the Social Democrats and People Before Profit, backed her.

Related: Catherine Connolly: the outspoken leftwinger set to be Ireland’s next president

11.51am GMT
Watch Irish presidential inauguration in Dublin

You can watch the live stream of the Irish presidential inauguration here:

11.50am GMT
Irish president-elect Connolly arrives for inauguration ceremony in Dublin

Irish president-elect Catherine Connolly has just arrived at the Dublin Castle for her presidential inauguration.
The ceremony is about to get under way in the next few minutes.
As our Ireland correspondent Rory Carroll explained around the time of her election:

“So for the next seven years Ireland will have a head of state who believes in equality and ring-fencing Irish neutrality from what she calls western “militarism” and genocide enablement. In Britain some have compared Connolly to Jeremy Corbyn and marvel – or groan – that an EU state has veered left when so many other countries have drifted right or far-right.
The election however does not fit such neat packaging. It is, no mistake, an earthquake that shakes the authority and confidence of the government and bolsters the possibility of a leftwing alliance at the next general election. But it does not represent an ideological shift.
The presidency is a largely ceremonial office. Mary Robinson turned it into a more visible platform, and Mary McAleese and Michael D Higgins continued that trend, but whomever occupies Áras an Uachtaráin, the residence in the Phoenix Park, is very constrained.
Voters twice elected Higgins – himself an outspoken leftwinger from Galway – but gave executive power to successive coalitions dominated by Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil.
Connolly can highlight topics, set a tone, make symbolic gestures, perhaps skirmish with the government on policy issues, but she will be bound by the constitution, and has promised to respect those limits.”

11.35am GMT
Guests arrive for presidential inauguration in Ireland - in pictures

11.24am GMT
Hopes of Irish language revival in public life as Catherine Connolly takes office

In another big ceremony today, Catherine Connolly is set to be inaugurated as Ireland’s 10th president in Dublin.
As our Ireland correspondent Rory Carroll explains:

When the independent leftwing politician is inaugurated as Ireland’s president on Tuesday, she will carry hopes of a transformational Gaelic revival.
The former barrister from Galway made Gaelic a central part of her election campaign and has indicated she wishes to make it the working language of the presidency. “I will do my best to bring Irish in from the margins and use it,” Connolly told the Irish language station Raidió na Gaeltachta.
The 68-year-old shocked the centre-right political establishment last month when she won a landslide in the election to succeed Michael D Higgins as Ireland’s 10th president. Her candidacy united opposition leftwing parties, energised young voters and won 64% of the vote.

Related: Hopes of Irish language revival in public life as Catherine Connolly takes office

11.02am GMT
Watch French Armistice Day commemorations in Paris

You can follow the French commemorations here (and at the top of the page):

10.38am GMT
French Armistice Day commemorations get under way - in pictures

10.17am GMT
Ukraine's military says there are 300 Russian troops in Pokrovsk

Ukraine’s military said about 300 Russian soldiers were inside the embattled town of Pokrovsk, and that Moscow had intensified efforts to get more troops in over the past few days, using dense fog for cover, Reuters reported.
“Their goal remains unchanged – to reach the northern borders of Pokrovsk and then attempt to encircle the agglomeration,” Ukraine’s 7th paratrooper corps said on Facebook.
Fierce battles around Pokrovsk, once a key Ukrainian road and rail hub but now a ruined town, have been raging for months as Moscow grinds forward slowly in eastern Ukraine.

9.58am GMT
Ukraine hits Russia's oil refinery, warehouse overnight

Separately, Ukraine’s military said it struck Russia’s Saratov oil refinery overnight, causing explosions and a large fire in the area around the site, Reuters reported.
It also hit a “Sea Oil Terminal” in Russian-occupied Crimea and a warehouse in occupied Donetsk, according to a post from Ukraine’s General Staff on the Telegram messaging app.

9.38am GMT
Russia says it foiled Ukrainian-British plot to steal armed MiG-31 jet

Speaking of Ukraine, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed it had foiled a plot by Ukrainian and British spies to tempt Russian pilots to steal a MiG-31 jet armed with a Kinzhal hypersonic missile for $3m, state media reported on Tuesday.
Reuters reported that the RIA news agency cited the FSB as claiming that the hijacked jet was to be flown toward a Nato airbase in the Romanian city of Constanța, where it could have been shot down by air defences, the agency reported.
State TV showed pictures of messages and recordings of a man who they said was working for Ukrainian and British intelligence and had offered $3 million to a Russian pilot to fly a MiG to Europe and that the pilot had also been offered citizenship.
The Guardian and Reuters could not independently verify the Russian claims.

9.23am GMT
Morning opening: Marking Armistice Day

A number of European countries – including Belgium, France and Poland – are celebrating Armistice Day today, which in Poland’s case also marks the anniversary of the country regaining its independence in 1918.
We will keep an eye on commemorative events, including the ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris hosted by France’s Emmanuel Macron, and a major march in the Polish capital of Warsaw. I will bring you the latest from these events.
But we will also look at the latest on Ukraine, with another night of Russian attacks on the country and Romania reporting a Russian drone incursion overnight, five kilometres from the border with Ukraine. But Romanian president Nicușor Dan insisted it was an accident and played down the significance of the event.
It’s Tuesday, 11 November 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.

Updated at 9.41am GMT