President Connolly’s Sister Sparks Outrage With Anti-Trump TV Rant

The sister of President Catherine Connolly told CNN that the White House should be “flattened” on the day the Irish head of state hosted Donald Trump at Áras an Uachtaráin.

Dr Margaret Connolly, an outspoken campaigner, made the remarks while taking part in a Dublin protest on Saturday against Mr Trump and the United States’ role in the Gaza conflict. The demonstration coincided with the opening day of the US president’s visit to Ireland.

Dr Connolly, who was previously detained by Israeli authorities after trying to reach Gaza aboard an aid flotilla, was filmed by CNN directing a furious message at Mr Trump. “You are murdering and slaughtering and causing a genocide,” she said. “Take your goddamn rubble home and flatten your bloody White House.”

Later that day, Mr Trump met President Connolly at the Áras before travelling to Farmleigh House in the Phoenix Park for bilateral talks with Taoiseach Micheál Martin. The US president then headed to his Doonbeg golf resort in Co Clare to attend the Irish Open, won by Offaly golfer Shane Lowry.

The Government broadly portrayed the visit as a diplomatic success. Mr Trump said he would assist efforts to get Irish aid into Gaza and later announced plans to remove tariffs on Irish whiskey.

Following the meeting, President Connolly said she had raised Gaza directly with Mr Trump. She said she communicated “the strong view of the Irish people that the normalisation of war and genocide can never be accepted”.

However, Dr Margaret Connolly’s incendiary intervention could overshadow those diplomatic gains.

The White House omitted images and video from Mr Trump’s meeting with President Connolly in a trip video posted to the administration’s official X account.

A source described the engagement with President Connolly as a “courtesy call” and noted that reporters were present for Mr Trump’s arrival at the official residence. A spokesman for Mr Trump declined to comment.

Mr Trump’s visit to Ireland was met with protests in Dublin, Shannon and Doonbeg. Multiple American media outlets, including CNN, travelled to Dublin to cover the visit and the associated protests.

The video featuring Dr Connolly, which was shared on TikTok and other social media channels by CNN, does not identify her as the sister of President Connolly.

The Mail tried to contact Dr Connolly via her surgery in Sligo. However, when we identified ourselves, the person at the end of the line said: ‘The Irish Daily Mail, no thank you,’ and hung up.

Follow-up queries asking whether she had identified herself as the sister of the President or had told her sister she had spoken to CNN went unanswered.

The Mail also contacted CNN to ask if Dr Connolly had identified herself as the sister of the President.

The office of the President was also contacted for comment, as was the Department of Foreign Affairs and the US Embassy in Dublin.

Dr Connolly appeared to make the comments on Saturday at the protest in Dublin, only hours after her sister met with President Trump at the Áras.

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Dr Connolly is a GP based in Sligo who has worked in general practice for more than four decades.

President Connolly had a 20-minute meeting with the US president at Áras an Uachtaráin soon after his arrival in Ireland on Saturday morning.

Sources said there were no fireworks between the pair.

In a statement issued after the meeting, which was attended by members of both the US and Irish delegations but no media, Ms Connolly said: ‘As President of Ireland, I am very conscious that Ireland and the United States of America are bound by strong ties.

‘This is a deep connection, built over centuries, which allows us to speak openly to one another. We are in a world facing the existential threat posed by war and climate change, both of which are inextricably interlinked.

‘I conveyed the strong view of the Irish people that the normalisation of war and genocide can never be accepted. As a country which has suffered famine, colonisation and the violence of the Troubles, but also the importance of the long and challenging road to peace, I emphasised the unique insight which Irish people can bring to the resolution of conflict.’

Ms Connolly also said she highlighted to Mr Trump the strong commitment which the Irish people have to the importance of the UN. She said this ‘included the pride which Irish people feel in Ireland’s contribution to UN peacekeeping since 1958, and to the obligations contained within Article 29 of our Constitution towards the peaceful resolution of international disputes’.

The President continued that she had assured Mr Trump that ‘the Irish people would strongly support all those who have the strength to build a shared peace in all those parts of the world currently suffering from such horrific war and violence’.

Mr Trump didn’t answer any questions as to what was discussed during their meeting.

At a press conference with the Taoiseach at Farmleigh House after the Áras sit-down, Mr Trump said there had been ‘a very nice meeting’ with Ms Connolly, adding it was ‘a very respectful meeting.’

Pressed as to the nature of the conversation, Mr Trump asked his chief of protocol, Monica Crowley, to fill everyone in. ‘The president had a very constructive conversation with President Connolly today about a whole range of issues including energy and European supplies of energy,’ she said.

Mr Trump stressed, however, that he thought the President was ‘terrific, it was quite pleasant, we talked about a lot of things’.

One of the major talking points from the US president’s visit was his support for Irish unification and our sister paper the Irish Mail on Sunday revealed that it was Mr Trump who first raised the topic with President Connolly. He asked her how ‘the merger’ was going within minutes of their behind-closed-doors chat starting. He later told a joint press conference with the Taoiseach that he would ‘love’ it if the North and the Republic were to reunite.

President Connolly gave President Trump a St Brigid’s Cross, a copy of the book Navigatio Sancti Brendani – The Voyage Of St Brendan, and the collected poems of Michael Longley, including his sonnet Ceasefire.

Dr Connolly established her own GP practice in Sligo in 1992. She is originally from Galway city and grew up in Shantalla with 13 siblings, including President Connolly. She is married to Sligo county councillor Declan Bree.

She was one of hundreds of activists detained by Israel earlier this year as they attempted to reach Gaza as part of an aid flotilla. She was eventually returned home after a number of days. She claimed that detainees had been hit with guns and stepped on.