Catherine Connolly starts four-day visit to Scotland

President Catherine Connolly will begin a four-day official visit to Scotland on Wednesday. Connolly will begin her engagements in Edinburgh, where she is expected to meet Scottish first minister John Swinney at his official residence and workplace, Bute House.She previously met Swinney in November 2025, when she received the Scottish National Party leader at Áras an Uachtaráin.The President will attend further engagements in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Coatbridge as well as on the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides. READ MOREAmong those engagements is a visit to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, where Connolly is to be awarded an honorary fellowship. Many of the events will focus on Ireland-UK co-operation across cultural and academic programmes. On the Isle of Skye, the President will visit Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Scotland’s National Centre for Gaelic Language and Culture.The President with be joined on the official visit by her husband, Brian McEnery.In a statement, Connolly said she was “very pleased to have the opportunity of making an official visit to Scotland and building on my engagement with the first minister in the opening weeks of my presidency”.Connolly said Ireland and Scotland “are bound by strong ties of friendship, culture and language, with people moving between our countries for centuries”. [ Sinn Féin warns British government not to block Border pollOpens in new window ]“I am very much looking forward to meeting with those involved in many of the projects bringing our people together over the coming days, as well as meeting with members of the Irish community in Scotland,” she said.The President has made official visits to England, Northern Ireland and Spain since her inauguration last November. During her trip to England in May, she met king Charles at Buckingham Palace. Connolly received US president Donald Trump at Áras an Uachtaráin last Saturday. In a statement following the meeting, Connolly said she had “conveyed the strong view of the Irish people that the normalisation of war and genocide can never be accepted”.