Europe faces 'intellectual crisis'

President Michael D Higgins has said an “intellectual crisis” is the “deepest crisis” facing Europe today.

Giving a speech to mark the 75th anniversary of NUI Maynooth’s Department of Sociology, Mr Higgins also said different approaches to human rights could not be ignored.

“With half a million people unemployed, conditions of poverty, you need studies that are practical. Even more urgently, [in] both Ireland and Europe . . . really the intellectual crisis in Europe is the deepest crisis,” he said.

“How for example, if the social sciences are to make their best international contribution, can you ignore the different approaches even towards human rights?”

Mr Higgins recalled being described as “a bit of a Marxist” in early television appearances.

He said there were faults and limits within the parliamentary system, but it should not be viewed as being entirely separate from social activism. “You can’t walk away from the State. If you think in Irish history of how long it took us to get to the kind of democratic accountability of a limited kind that is provided through electoral politics,” he said.

“Admittedly there are faults, there are limits within the parliamentary system but it is an achievement of social movements.”

Social activism created a context for the parliamentary accountability and made it real, Mr Higgins said. “I sometimes see these presented as either/or choices. I think that’s a pity.”

He said there was much to learn from those who had sought to reform society, State and community.

Mr Higgins also said it was one thing to achieve equality through legislation, but it was another thing to actually deliver it. He told the assembled academics and students: “Your best days are yet to come.”