“A President for All?” — Stella O’Malley Questions Connolly’s Support for Controversial Gender Charity

09.06.2026

A recent article by psychotherapist and author Stella O’Malley, published in The Irish Catholic, has raised serious concerns about President Catherine Connolly’s decision to become patron of what O’Malley describes as an “extremely well‑funded charity that actively promotes the medicalisation of gender nonconforming children.” O’Malley argues that the President, who had pledged to be “an inclusive president… a president who listens to people and reflects; a president for all,” has instead aligned herself with a highly contentious organisation at the centre of one of today’s most divisive issues.

O’Malley is sharply critical of Belong To’s approach to gender‑distressed children, warning that the group’s training encourages adults working with minors to withhold key information from parents. She argues that this directly contradicts decades of hard‑won safeguarding culture in Ireland, noting that “secrecy around children is dangerous.” For O’Malley, parents must be involved in major disclosures unless there is a genuine child‑protection concern.

She also challenges Belong To’s ideological claims, highlighting that the organisation maintains that a person becomes the opposite sex simply by declaring it. O’Malley warns that such beliefs risk pushing vulnerable young people toward unnecessary medical interventions without robust evidence of long‑term benefit.

Her concerns extend to those who regret such interventions. Through Genspect, the organisation she founded, O’Malley says she has supported “more than 600 detransitioners” who now live in what she calls a “medical and psychological no‑man’s‑land.” She questions whether the President is willing to acknowledge and support this overlooked minority.

O’Malley concludes that if the President continues what she calls “down‑with‑the‑kids virtue‑signalling,” the office risks resembling “the president of the student union” rather than a unifying figure for the nation.