Sir, – Brendan Morley is sniffy about President Michael D Higgins's public pronouncements and the alleged politicisation of his office ("Proper contest for presidency needed", Opinion & Analysis, June 9th). This is, of course, rubbish. The constitutional requirement is that our President should be above party politics, not that he should be a neutered cipher.
Mr Higgins has spoken out on matters of national import, reflecting concerns widely held in the country – and he has done so in terms that elevate his comments above the hurly-burly of everyday politics. He has spoken with high moral authority derived both from the popular mandate he received in 2011 and from his own remarkable qualities of intellect and humanity. The warmth with which he is greeted all over this country and abroad when he appears at public events can leave nobody in any doubt about the esteem and affection in which he is held. At a time when the reputation of the political establishment in Ireland – and indeed that of every other part of the Irish establishment (business, ecclesiastical, etc) – is at an all-time low, he is a beacon of light in our benighted country.
We are so lucky to have him as our head of state. – Yours, etc,
FELIX M LARKIN,
Cabinteely,
Dublin 18.