DUP will not be represented at Irish presidential inauguration

Emma Little-Pengelly said she wished Catherine Connolly well and hoped to speak to her

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has confirmed that it will not send a representative to the Irish presidential inauguration.

Last week Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said it was not possible for her to attend the inauguration of Ireland's new president, Catherine Connolly, due to "a number of other commitments in Belfast and Windsor" to mark Remembrance Day.

Alliance MLA Paula Bradshaw told the BBC's Sunday Politics programme that the DUP should send an alternative representative.

Bradshaw also confirmed that her party leader, Naomi Long, could not attend as she will be at a remembrance service, but Alliance will be represented by the deputy leader, Eóin Tennyson.

Little-Pengelly said she wished Connolly well and hopes to speak to her in the coming days.

First Minister Michelle O'Neill will attend the ceremony in Dublin Castle on Tuesday, accompanied by Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald.

"Tuesday marks Remembrance Day, an important day for so many," Little Pengelly said.

"I am scheduled to attend a service and to participate in an Act of Remembrance in Parliament Buildings before travelling to Windsor Castle at the invitation of Their Majesties, the King and Queen for a special reception to commemorate VJ Day 80th anniversary to honour veterans of the Second World War, and in particular of the Pacific on this day of remembrance."

Paula Bradshaw said the DUP sending an alternative would be the "right thing to do"

However, speaking to the BBC's Sunday Politics programme, Bradshaw said the party were "hopeful" that Little-Pengelly would have accepted in the invitation.

Bradshaw said she appreciated that "it was only last week that it will have been received by the invitees".

"I would like to think that the departmental officials will be working within the executive office at pace with the president's office in terms of setting up some really important engagements," she added.

She said this would be so "people here in Northern Ireland and across this island of Ireland can see that we can work together in the spirit of co-operation".

"They will obviously have a couple of days to make that decision but I hope that they do send somebody from the DUP, I think it would be the right thing to do," Bradshaw said.

In 2011, the DUP's Peter Robinson, who was first minister at the time, joined then deputy first minister Martin McGuinness at the first presidential inauguration of Michael D Higgins.

There was no repeat for the re-election of Michael D Higgins in 2018 because Stormont was suspended at that stage.

Who is Catherine Connolly?

Catherine Connolly won the Irish presidential election last month

Catherine Connolly was elected as the 10th president of the Republic of Ireland after defeating Fine Gael's Heather Humphreys in a landslide victory last month.

Connolly served 17 years as councillor in Galway, including a one-year term as mayor of her native city.

Standing as an independent, she made two failed attempts to get elected to the Dáil (Irish Parliament) before finally winning a seat in 2016.

Connolly then became the first ever woman elected to chair debates in the Dáil when she secured the post of Leas-Cheann Comhairle (deputy speaker) in 2020.

It was a surprise win in which she managed to unite opposition parties against the sitting government's candidate.

She united them again with her presidential bid, securing the support of Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats, People Before Profit and her own former party, Labour.

Outside politics, Connolly is a passionate Irish speaker and a keen sportswoman who ran marathons and played badminton competitively in her younger years.

Connolly has said she would "love to see a united Ireland" in her lifetime.

But she has also emphasised that, under the Irish Constitution, Irish unity can only be achieved by peaceful means and the consent of voters in both parts of the island.