Fianna Fáil leader Michael Martin has come to the defence of Michael D Higgins after criticisms of the President for using the Government jet to travel to Belfast to give a speech.
Speaking at a Fianna Fáil event on Sunday, Mr Martin said “individual details like that, in my view, cannot take from the broader analysis of his presidency”.
He said that there had been “an attempt in the campaign, in terms of minutiae, to go through issues that don’t go to the heart of what the presidency is about”.
Mr Martin said the Presidentis not “a person who is given to extravagancy at all. In fact, I’ve known him throughout his public life - he has never been that kind of person.
“I’ve never seen Michael D Higgins as a person who is worried about the trappings of office,” he said. “Quite frankly I’ve seen a person who is interested in ideas, who’s interested in the substance of issues and in reaching out to people. That’s my summation of my experience of Michael D Higgins over a long period of years.”
Mr Higgins has been criticised for his use of the jet to travel to Belfast to deliver a speech in May, when his car also travelled to bring him from the airport to Queens University.
‘Security’
During a televised debate last week, Mr Higgins said that for “security reasons, I couldn’t be picked up at the Border”.
However, PSNI sources have been reported as disputing Mr Higgins’s claim, while the PSNI said in a statement that it regularly works with visiting heads of state and makes “full provisions for their safety in line with their requirements”.
A spokesman for Áras an Uachtaráin told The Irish Times that the President had made "many visits to Northern Ireland by car" but for "logistical reasons and on security advice" he used the Government jet in May.
The spokesman would not comment further on why the plane had been used on this occasion.
Mr Higgins's rivals, who trail him by a huge distance according to opinion polls, have seized on his use of the facilities of the presidency. Sinn Féin candidate Liadh Ní Riada called on Mr Higgins to "come clean" about the matter.
All six candidates are preparing for an intense final few days of campaigning before Friday’s vote. All are scheduled to take part in a televised debate on RTÉ’s Primetime programme on Tuesday night.
Peter Casey, who had been criticised for his comments about Travellers last week, said he was staying in the race due to a wave of public support expressed in "thousands of texts, emails and phone calls".
New theme
In an “open letter” released by his campaign, Mr Casey said he respected Traveller culture and traditions but refused to apologise for his comments, which were criticised by his rivals and by Traveller organisations last week.
He opened a new theme in his campaign, criticising welfare increases in the budget and saying that there was little help for average working families. He said that Ireland was becoming a “welfare dependant state, with a sense of entitlement that’s become unaffordable”.
“The socialist politicians are focusing all their interests on welfare and social housing but have forgotten about the bill payers, the mortgage payers and the taxpayers,” Mr Casey wrote.
“Where is the incentive work in this country? We have become a nation of people who expect, no demand that the state looks after them... As proud Irish people, we are better than that. We need to restore our national pride and or national identity.”
