Letters

President Higgins and role of presidency

Public pronouncements

Thu Oct 19 2023 - 00:08

Sir, – The office of the President of Ireland is not an apolitical office. It is not a retirement home. It is not a happy-clapping spot for an uncontroversial figure who stays silent and simply signs Bills and hands out seals of office.

The President of Ireland is, by the very nature of the office, a political figure. If the President were not political, there would simply be no need to hold an election to fill the office every seven years. The President of Ireland is not the English monarch.

While some may have voted for President Higgins based on a misconception that he would sit quietly in an office for seven to 14 years, the reality is that he was never going to do so. And rightly so.

A head of state who does not call out atrocities and war crimes overseas, and the turning of a blind eye to same by some high-profile public-office holders, is a head of state not worth having.

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I’m glad President Higgins is doing his job so well, while at all times remaining within the restraints of his office.

Perhaps the letter-writers so appalled by President Higgins doing his job might wish to pay more attention to the next presidential election when it comes around in 2025. – Yours, etc,

TOMÁS HENEGHAN,

East Wall,

Dublin 3.

Sir, – We are very fortunate in having a President who speaks out publicly against injustice and I agree with his recent remarks about Ursula von der Leyen and her approach to the Israel-Hamas conflict as “thoughtless and even reckless”.

I’m not interested in a President who solely greets foreign heads of state and government at the Áras, opens heritage centres and goes to bed early with a mug of chamomile tea with a well-thumbed copy of the Constitution. – Yours, etc,

PATRICK O’BYRNE,

Phibsborough,

Dublin 7.

Sir, – President Higgins’s role is to support our Government and by extension our shared policies with the European Union and his recent words are not only overstepping the mark but failing to take into account the brutality of the actions of Hamas toward innocent citizens of a multitude of nationalities caught up in the incursions into Israel.

I would suggest, however, if President Higgins wants to make a real difference to victims of international belligerence that he consider opening up the Áras to those currently living in tents in Stradbally and elsewhere. – Yours, etc,

RONNIE MADDEN,

Limerick.

Sir, – Once again President Michael D Higgins captures the pulse of the nation and offers guidance, this time to an unelected European Commission president, and the Taoiseach, both of whom should know better. Long may he continue to offer free moral guidance to national and world leaders in these dangerous times of increased terror, warmongering, militarisation and threats to Ireland’s neutrality. – Yours, etc,

JIM ROCHE,

Irish Anti-War Movement,

Dublin 1.

Sir, – President Michael D Higgins has berated European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen support of Israel following the horrendous massacre by Hamas as “coming down on one side”. How could she have done otherwise? How can you be even-handed when the “other side” is a terrorist organisation that is a tool of Iran? She can be criticised for not condemning Israel’s subsequent response in what can be considered a breach of international law but not for supporting Israel. – Yours, etc,

BRIAN MARTEN,

Skibbereen,

Co Cork.

Sir, – I completely agree with the views of President Higgins in regards to the recent statement by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. I completely disagree with his decision to comment publicly on the matter. – Yours, etc,

MICHAEL O’DWYER,

Clogheen,

Cork.

Sir, – Can we assume that President Higgins failed to see the irony in him criticising Ursula von der Leyen for exceeding the powers of her office? – Yours, etc,

ROBERT CARROLL,

Dublin 6W.