Galway West TD Catherine Connolly has broken her silence amid speculation that she might run for Áras an Uachtaráin this year – admitting she would be ‘open minded’ to the proposition.

“It was certainly never something I considered and it’s a privilege to even have people highlighting that perhaps I might do it,” she said.

“I’m in a space where if there was a chance to unite the opposition, certainly in that position I would keep my mind open.”

Speaking to RTÉ’s Seán O’Rourke on his Insights podcast, she said there had not been any conversation on it as yet as the current incumbent, fellow Galwegian Michael D Higgins enters the final nine months of his second term as President.

But she admitted: “If the opportunity arose to galvanise the opposition, I’d certainly look at that – but only on those terms.”

In a wide-ranging interview on national, international and local issues – released overnight – she again re-iterated her opposition to the Outer City Bypass, describing it, as she did when she was first elected to the City Council in 1999, as ‘madness’.

“I consistently put forward different solutions and all I have seen in Galway is the traffic congestion worsen,” she said.

Pointing to Park and Ride and Light Rail alternatives, she went further, saying: “We need fundamental change, and Galway should be taken as a pilot for a green, lean city – roll it out.”

One of a family of 14 – seven boys and seven girls – who grew up in Shantalla, she said she ‘watched with disgust and despair’ when Galway City Council stopped building public housing in 2009.

“I didn’t meet anybody at the door who said they wanted a reduction in taxes; they were crying out for services – public health, housing, childcare, public transport,” she told Seán O’Rourke.

Deputy Connolly, whose mother died when she herself was a young girl, also opened up about her relationship with spirituality, revealing she still talks to her mother and her five departed siblings every day.

Pictured: Catherine Connolly TD.