Catherine Connolly in Dublin on the day the results of the presidential election were announced, 25 October 2025. Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters Last weekend, Ireland elected as its next president a leftwing pacifist in the latest example of how Ireland has bucked the global trends of rightwing populism. This was not a parliamentary election – although Catherine Connolly, an independent candidate, managed to unite leftwing parties, some previously at loggerheads – behind her.