Connolly praises London Irish Centre for supporting survivors of institutions

By Erik Olsson, PA

President Catherine Connolly has said her personal and professional life is “entangled” with the survivors of Irish institutions, as she visited a support centre in London.

The Galway politician attended the London Irish Centre in Camden, north London, on the second day of her three-day official trip to England, which will also see her hold engagements in Leeds.

Connolly praised the centre’s support of former residents of Irish institutions, such as mother and baby homes, industrial schools and Magdalene Laundries, living in London and the south of England.

Speaking in the community centre’s presidential suite, Ms Connolly, who met with some survivors on Tuesday afternoon, said: “My own life has been entangled with survivors on a personal level and a professional level for almost all of my adult life.

“I had been given the privilege of knowing it from every angle, as a domestic who cleaned in an industrial school where my own family had been, to going back as a psychologist, to working as a barrister, and representing survivors in the redress board.”

“My own life has been an absolute spiral of going up and then back down,” she added.

“Each one of you plays an exceptionally important role in supporting the Irish community, from a smile and a kind word, and there have been many smiles and kind words today at the door, and equally importantly to providing a listening ear once people arrive.”

Connolly praised the centre’s Irish language lessons and said instruction in the language formed an “integral part” of the solution to climate change.

“As somebody who returned to Irish and continues to learn Irish, for me, what jumped out when I went back learning Irish was an integral part of the solution to our climate crisis is within the Irish language,” she said.

“Because they never ever had that false distinction between nature and the human being, as exists in the English language. It doesn’t have the concept of destroying nature, of extraction from nature. It has concepts of living with nature as equals.”

Connolly also discussed the historical “exodus” of Irish people to the UK as well the poor outcomes for Irish migrants in the 1980s, who she said had lower life expectancies than they otherwise would have had in Ireland.

“They were the only group of people arriving where their life expectancy was less than what their life expectancy would have been at home, and I just think it’s important to mention that in context,” she said.

“I have to say, the official response from Ireland, and I’ve said this in another speech, was a little slow in catching up to put it mildly in relation to that exodus from our country, and I leave that for the politicians to meditate on.

“But when those thousands and thousands of people went to England, we also turned the other way, and it was your centre, the one in Hammersmith, and the one I’m going to tomorrow in Leeds, that picked up, that carried out the actions on our behalf, and I really want to say how grateful I am.”

The president was greeted at the community centre, which celebrated its 70th anniversary in September 2025, by chief executive Seamus MacCormaic and Camden Mayor Eddie Hanson.

Connolly and her husband, Brian McEnery, enjoyed scones with the centre’s board of trustees and the Irish ambassador to the UK Martin Fraser before delivering her address in both English and Irish.

Local singer Etaoin Rowe, from Ealing, west London, who was born to Irish parents, sang two songs for the president after her speech.

Speaking to the Press Association after the performance, the 29-year-old said: “I just love how she really references so many truths about Ireland, about like immigration and stuff like that throughout my family, and through so many families who have moved over here.

“The London Irish Centre has been such a huge support, like I practically grew up here, so it was really special and just an absolute honour.”