In a tightly circumscribed constitutional role, President Michael D Higgins has performed assertively and well during his first year in office. Pushing traditional boundaries and shaping public discourse is always difficult, as Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese discovered. But that is what distinguishes a dynamic presidency. In his inaugural address President Higgins spoke of establishing a different set of values as the basis for a profoundly ethical and inclusive society.
Since then, he has been a consistent critic of neo-liberal economic policies and of the EU’s failure to balance austerity with growth and job creation. His views are not always regarded with approval in Government circles.
Passion and commitment have featured prominently in President Higgins’s political make-up. Dáil speeches denouncing social inequality, injustice and human rights abuses were compelling while, as minister for the arts, he promoted innovative thinking and cultural development. Those aspects have not dimmed. They featured strongly on social network sites during the summer when a two-year-old clip of an impassioned Mr Higgins laying into US talk-show host and Tea Party supporter Michael Graham went viral.
Economic and foreign policy and human rights have been consistent themes since his election. A speech to the London School of Economics on the collapse of the property/banking bubble brought criticism, as did his suggestion that the Irish people had been “betrayed” by various institutions and individuals. It has not deflected him. A visit to South America was marked by outspoken criticisms of the EU’s response to the currency crisis which, he said, risked damaging the institutions themselves. Earlier in the year, he had denounced German/French actions as representing “economic self-interest” that undermined the cohesion of the EU project.
Long years of campaigning for democracy and human rights in Africa, the Middle East, South America and South East Asia have been well catalogued. They led a party colleague to remark sourly in the 1980s that Michael D had been given the chance of saving the Labour Party or the world and he had chosen the latter. That humanitarian engagement continues. Regional conferences, where young people were invited to explore their vision of a future Ireland, will feed into a national gathering later this month. The need to root out hate and sectarianism in the North and develop the political process sits comfortably with his support for rural development and the National Ploughing Championship. Innovation and creativity, as stepping stones towards an inclusive, ethical society, are regular themes. But so are traditional values. Diarmaid Ferriter has described him aptly as “the quintessential intellectual in Irish politics”.