The Taoiseach has said his 2009 meeting with then-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was “very different” from independent presidential hopeful Catherine Connolly’s visit to Syria almost a decade later.
Ms Connolly has stated that during her 2018 fact-finding trip to Syria, she had “no control” over who she met, despite encountering individuals known to support Assad’s regime, reports Breaking News.
According to The Irish Times, one of the individuals Connolly encountered during the trip had reportedly been involved in attacks on Palestinians in a refugee camp.
When asked about this revelation, Ms Connolly replied: “No, I wasn’t,” reports Breaking News.
During a debate on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Ms Connolly explained: “I went to Syria on a fact-finding mission. The first port of call was the Palestinian refugee camp outside Damascus.
“We were to go to Beirut, but we joined the group later, and the group had gone to a Palestinian refugee camp outside of Beirut.
“We went from Beirut to Damascus on a trip, a fact-finding trip – we met different groups,” reports Breaking News.
She continued: “You have no control when you go to a country like that as to who will come into your presence or not. That’s no endorsement of the regime. I’m on record for condemning the regime, I did not meet with (then-president) Assad,” reports Breaking News.
Connolly said her intention was to gain insight into the lives of Palestinian refugees, many of whom had been displaced from utterly decimated communities.
She added that she met individuals who “spoke to us as openly as they could within a dictatorship,” reports Breaking News.
Ms Connolly also pointed out that Taoiseach Micheál Martin had met Assad directly in 2009.
At a Friday press event, Mr Martin defended that visit by saying: “I think my visit was a much earlier phase back in 2009, on the advice of Department of Foreign Affairs officials at the time, because it was a wider Middle East visit to do with the peace process and Palestine,”
He said Syria was actively involved in regional discussions with Israel and Turkey at the time, reports Breaking News.
Commenting on Ms Connolly’s visit, Mr Martin said the setting and timing were “much, much different”.
He added that she had encountered individuals known for targeting Palestinians and suggested there had been a lack of due diligence ahead of the trip, reports Breaking News.
Mr Martin stated: “Clearly no advanced research went into that, it seems to me from what I’ve heard,” reports Breaking News.
At the same press briefing, Fine Gael leader Simon Harris criticised Ms Connolly’s comparisons between her trip and Mr Martin’s, calling them “very unfair,” reports Breaking News.
Harris said that although Connolly framed her trip as a humanitarian mission, it was now clear she had met people with ties to war crimes.
He also said: “It’s also emerged in recent days that she didn’t fund the trip, we the Irish people did, and therefore I think full transparency and breakdown of the costs is important in relation to that,” reports Breaking News.
On both the Syria visit and Ms Connolly’s involvement with Oireachtas staff regarding an access pass for a woman convicted of a firearm offence, Mr Harris said: “There’s a lot of things that the deputy is kind of considering,
“She gets asked a difficult question, she considers it – with a week left (until the election), it would be useful if her considerations could come to a conclusion,” reports Breaking News.
During Friday’s presidential debate, Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys also faced criticism over her past involvement in the campaign for justice led by Lucia O’Farrell, whose son Shane was killed in a hit-and-run incident involving a man who should have been in prison.
Ms Humphreys said she had done all she could at the time, stating: “I made representations on her behalf. I’m sorry that she says I didn’t do enough. I’m sorry if that’s the case. I really am, but I did my best,” reports Breaking News.
The Fianna Fáil leader has also come under renewed scrutiny regarding the selection of Mr Gavin as the party’s presidential candidate, after he withdrew from the race due to financial issues involving a former tenant.
Responding to former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s comment that Fianna Fáil leadership had failed to support his bid for candidacy, Mr Martin said: “I received no call from Bertie at any stage in advance of that, but these are matters that I can elaborate in greater detail in terms of the review that the Fianna Fáil party will undertake,” reports Breaking News.
When pressed on reports that Mr Ahern had contacted the party’s national executive several times, Mr Martin said the issue would be addressed as part of an internal party review, reports Breaking News.
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