Justine McCarthy: Time for Michael D Higgins to address the Oireachtas

It may take a return visit to Leinster House for passersby to wonder why such a garrulous intellectual has remained silent within its portals since he became the country’s President 11 years agoMany first-time visitors to Leinster House abruptly halt in their stride, as if tasered, when they encounter Michael D Higgins’s portrait hanging in the hallway.

Bunreacht na hÉireann allows the President, who is one of the three components of the Oireachtas, to address the Dáil and Seanad. Both of Higgins’s predecessors availed of the provision. The last time was in December 1999 when Mary McAleese spoke in the Dáil chamber as the world teetered on the cusp of a new millennium. Emoting for Ireland was her forte.

While Robinson made the presidency relevant to the people and McAleese brought her emotional intelligence to it, Higgins’s flair has been his daring in stating home truths In her Oireachtas address in 1992, delivered in harmony with the early rumblings of the peace process, Mary Robinson told TDs and senators they owed it to future generations to reflect on “self-definition at a time of redefinition”. If ever there was such a defining moment, it is now. Since Michael D Higgins moved into Áras an Uachtaráin in 2011, Ireland’s axis has shifted. We have endured a lethal pandemic. Our planet is on life support. There is a war in Europe.

There are two Michael Ds. One is the veteran Labour politician. He is not the one who we should hear from in the role of President. The other, who we should hear from, is a moral man who can speak to the better angels of our nature in an increasingly selfish, self-centred world.

I suspect Michael D is likely the only office holder likely to be returned if put to a vote.

Given Miggeldy’s long service as a TD, regular speeches on the centenary commemorations, and how he hasn’t respected the traditional boundaries of office, I think we already know his views on most issues. Pacifism, more state spending on everything, ethical remembering.

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