Speech by President Connolly at Ulster University
Belfast, 4th February 2026
A chairde,
I am very pleased to be here with you all today in the Ulster University on this my first official visit to Northern Ireland since I was elected Uachtarán na hÉireann.
May I thank First Minister Michelle O’Neill and the Deputy First Minister Emma Little Pengelly for their warm welcome earlier today, and may I thank the Ulster University Vice-Chancellor Paul Bartholomew for his kind words.
This superb new campus here in Belfast, one of Europe’s largest higher education campus buildings, is symbolic of Ulster University’s ethos and mission – a centre for innovation, providing a range of courses with an emphasis on holistic education. Ulster University plays an important role in regional development and urban regeneration.
Clearly this is a special place designed to foster community – both within the nearly 30,000-strong student and staff body, and across three campuses – Belfast, Coleraine and Derry. I congratulate all those involved in the development of the campus and those who have contributed to the University being awarded the Times Higher Education University of the Year 2024, a momentous achievement.
In my inauguration speech on 11th November last year, I gave a commitment that my first official visit would be to the North. I am delighted to be here with you today to fulfil that commitment. I’m looking forward to meeting people from different communities who are doing such great work on the ground. The visit is also an opportunity to celebrate the rich heritage and traditions of all who live here in peaceful coexistence.
Northern Ireland now represents a beacon of light to the world in how decades-long conflict can be resolved and reconciliation fostered.
In a world that is ever-more consumed with war and militarism, Northern Ireland’s lesson is increasingly important, and it is a lesson that we should all tell the world: that peace is possible.
On 10th April this year, we will mark 28 years since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, that watershed moment in our island’s history. It represents a landmark peace accord that has ended the 30 years of conflict in Northern Ireland that we have come to term “The Troubles”.
It has key elements, all essential – establishing a power-sharing devolved government, fostering cross-border cooperation, promoting peaceful means for resolving disputes, cross-community consent for decisions, commitments to demilitarisation and the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons, and guaranteed rights and legitimacy of both British and Irish identities.
The voices of all the people of this island came together and were heard in May 1998 in the referendums, North and South. And they set our course – one in which, in the words of the Agreement,
“we firmly dedicate ourselves to the achievement of reconciliation, tolerance and mutual trust, and to the protection and vindication of the human rights of all.”
We can and should take real pride in the success of the Good Friday Agreement, knowing that this is recognised far and wide as a model for peaceful resolution of conflict. We know that this journey of peace and reconciliation was the result of sustained, meticulous and methodical work for many years, and this work continues to this day.
We owe a great debt to all those whose leadership made peace happen. I look forward to viewing John Hume’s Nobel Peace Prize, shared with David Trimble, and his other distinguished awards when I visit the Guildhall in Derry tomorrow.
It was the 19th-century social activist, feminist and campaigner Mary Ann McCracken who urged the people of this island to, “strike out something new and show an example of candour, generosity and justice superior to that of any who have gone before”.
The Good Friday Agreement represents that brave and generous forward movement – but we have more work to do.
The conflict left its deep marks here in Northern Ireland in particular, but also across this island, in Britain and beyond.
Many families continue to live with grief and pain every day. It is a collective responsibility on us all to address properly the needs and the questions of the families most affected, wherever they are, with integrity and a determination, to deliver truth, accountability and justice for them and for society.
As President, I will ensure that all voices from all backgrounds are heard, regardless of gender, age, beliefs, ethnicity or nationality.
In that context I am mindful of the words of our Constitution, including Articles 2 and 3 in all their parts, as amended after the Good Friday Agreement, which include recognition that:-
“It is the firm will of the Irish nation, in harmony and friendship, to unite all the people who share the territory of the island of Ireland, in all the diversity of their identities and traditions, recognising that a united Ireland shall be brought about only be peaceful means with the consent of a majority of the people, democratically expressed, in both jurisdictions in the island.”
As President, I look forward to playing my part in deepening relationships on this island. We won’t always agree.
We will have different perspectives and, of course, different aspirations for the future. All of those perspectives and aspirations are legitimate. But I believe deeply that we are made richer by the different traditions of this island. I believe that the history and heritage of every person and every community on this island has something we can learn from.
We did not live separate histories sealed off from each other. We live, and are living, an intertwined and unfinished story. For me, Irishness is as varied as those who identify with it, in whole or in part. Our games, our music, our languages should never divide us. They are integral to this island’s cultural wealth. They are our shared treasures.
Of course, later this year in August, Belfast is going to host the Fleadh Cheoil for the very first time, and this University will be a main venue. I hope you get a chance to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy this wonderful event.
A chairde, we are, as the great Belfast poet John Hewitt reminded us, multi-layered people with multi-layered identities. To leave out any part of our shared heritage is to make false the whole. Let us together renew our commitment to peace and reconciliation and to fully realising its promise, values and vision.
Go raibh maith agaibh.
