Catherine Connolly defends spending public money on Syria trip

Presidential candidate Catherine Connolly has confirmed she used a taxpayer-funded allowance to fund a trip to Syria in 2018.

The Irish Times reported on Thursday that she submitted a claim under the Parliamentary Activities Allowance for €3,691 related to “Syria” in her statements to the Standards in Public Office (Sipo) Commission for 2018.

She travelled to Syria as part of an Irish delegation that also included then fellow Independent TDs Clare Daly, Mick Wallace and Maureen O’Sullivan.

In a statement on Thursday, Connolly's campaign team said: "Catherine Connolly used a portion of her Parliamentary Activities Allowance under the 'Research” heading to support a fact-finding visit to Syria.

"The total declared amount was €3,691, as set out in her annual return to the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO).

"This expenditure was made for research purposes: to gather first-hand information relevant to Catherine’s parliamentary work on foreign policy, humanitarian issues, sanctions, Irish neutrality and Ireland’s role in international institutions.

"Costs covered standard travel and subsistence. No personal benefit accrued.

“Catherine welcomes scrutiny of public spending and will continue to act with transparency and accountability in all aspects of her work.”

In 2018, Bashar al-Assad was still in power in Syria and engaged in a brutal civil war. The country was under Western sanctions.

Ms Connolly has previously said the delegation visited a refugee camp outside Damascus and “saw first-hand the destruction of a whole city”.