Controversy over Sabina Higgins’s letter set to roll into another week

If there’s one thing we have learned about Michael D Higgins’s time as President of Ireland, it is that he does not shy away from sharing his thoughts on controversial or sensitive topics.

In June, the President described the housing crisis as a disaster, adding that it was “our great, great failure”. The comments provoked anger in Government — even if many acknowledged them to be true — because it was viewed as an intervention steering close to the political arena.

Higgins was in the spotlight again in June when found himself rejecting claims that he linked the massacre of 40 people at a Catholic Church in Nigeria to climate change.

In 2016, he questioned why reform of the direct provision system was missing from discussions on the formation of government, and also raised concerns about the then government’s reliance on the private sector to build homes. In the same year, there were raised eyebrows when he questioned the emphasis being placed on tax cuts by political parties ahead of a general election.

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His willingness to share candid opinions over the last decade contrasts sharply with his refusal to answer basic questions on the contents of a letter sent by his wife Sabina Higgins to The Irish Times last week.

In the letter, she said the fighting would go on until the world “persuades President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire and negotiations”. The concerns raised by critics and some politicians is that she appeared to be drawing an equivalence between the actions of Ukraine and Russia.

Government insiders believe the letter was naive. But worse still, they fear it has undermined the Coalition’s stance on the war and they know that diplomats worldwide are watching. The Government position has been to call repeatedly on Russia to cease hostilities immediately and withdraw from Ukraine unconditionally.

[ President under pressure to clarify stance on wife’s letter about war in Ukraine ]

[ Sabina Higgins’ letter to The Irish Times ]

[ President reiterates condemnation of war against Ukraine - but does not address letter controversy ]

The situation has not been made any easier by international reaction to the letter. A headline on Politico over the weekend read: “Irish president’s wife wins Kremlin kudos for Ukraine peace letter”. Russian ambassador Yuriy Filatov praised the letter and said: “It makes sense.” Irish MEP Clare Daly also saluted Ms Higgins.

One of the most significant questions that has gone unanswered is why the letter was also published on the official Áras an Uachtaráin website, before being later removed.

Fine Gael TD and former government chief whip Paul Kehoe said its inclusion on the official website gave it a kind of official status and for this reason, the President must address the matter directly and without delay.

Throughout the weekend and twice on Monday, The Irish Times posed a series of questions to the Office of the President, including queries on why the letter was placed on the official website, why was it taken down, and if the President agreed with its contents.

Diplomacy

In a response just before lunchtime on Monday, a spokesperson for Mr Higgins answered the queries with a list of historical statements made by the President about Russia’s war on Ukraine.

And in a comment, the spokesperson said that the “record” showed that “President Higgins has been unequivocal in his condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine”, quoting a statement from March.

The spokesperson added that “President Higgins has stressed the importance of using every available chink of diplomacy”.

A copy of eight different speeches at various events this year was included in the response, as well as a link to a YouTube video.

At no stage was the letter written by Sabina Higgins specifically addressed. Questions about why it was put on the official website, and then taken down, also went unanswered. The Irish Times submitted the same questions after lunchtime on Monday but these, again, were met with silence.

The refusal to address the substantive points — all of which have been raised by Government politicians over the bank holiday weekend — will ensure that the controversy rolls into another week. It seems inevitable, then, that more senior members of Government will be dragged into the storm just when they are planning to wind down for the summer.