Poets rarely achieve high political office unless playwright Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic may be included. Micheal D Higgins, humanitarian, civil rights activist, writer, public speaker, Labour Party activist and poet was inaugurated as President of Ireland on 11 November 2011. Higgins, a visionary, has plans for his seven year term of office.
Summary of Inaugural Speech of President Michael D Higgins
President Higgins became the ninth Irish President to serve as a symbol of an Irishness of whom all Irish people can be proud and fully expecting to realise all of the wonderful possibilities in the years ahead.
The Challenges
The new pesident realises the challenges in closing a chapter that has left a damaged economy, as a society, with unacceptable levels of unemployment, mortgage insecurity, collapsing property values and many broken expectations.
Different Version of Irishness
President Higgins expects to open a new chapter based on a different version of Irishness - a society and a state which will restore trust and confidence at home and act as a worthy symbol of Irishness abroad, inviting relationships of respect and co-operation across the world. Ireland must build an active, inclusive citizenship; based on participation, equality, respect for all and creativity in all its forms.
President Higgins will seek to achieve an inclusive citizenship where every citizen participates and everyone is treated with respect. Active citizenship requires the will and the opportunity to participate at every level – ‘to be the arrow; not the target.'
Constitutional Convention
President Higgins plans a Constitutional Convention, encouraging all citizens, of all ages, at home and abroad to take the opportunity of engaging with this important review to reflect on how Irish people might see themselves into the future.
He plans a number of Presidency Seminars to explore themes important to Irish life yet wider than legislative demand - themes such as the restoration of trust in institutions, the ethical connection between the economy and society, the future of a Europe built on peace, social solidarity and sustainability.
Higgins' Presidency recognises the long struggle for freedom which has produced a people who believe in the ‘right of the individual innovation and independence of mind [which] has given Ireland many distinguished contributors in culture and science, often insufficiently celebrated.'
Life Cannot be Measured
In recent years, there has been a rise of a different kind of individualism – ‘closer to an egotism based on purely material considerations’ – that valued the worth of a person in terms of the accumulation of wealth rather then their fundamental dignity. ‘An older wisdom that, while respecting material comfort and security as a basic right of all, also recognises that many of the most valuable things in life cannot be measured.’
James Connolly, Labour Activist
Irish successes in the world have been in the cultural and spiritual areas – ‘in our humanitarian, peace-building and human rights work - in our literature, art, drama and song’ James Connolly said that: “Ireland without her people means nothing to me”. Connolly took pride in the past but felt that excessively worshipping the past was to escape from the struggle and challenge of the present.'
A Decade of Commemoration
The 1913 Dublin Lock Out; the 1914-18 War; the 1916 Rising; the Battle of the Somme July 1916; the 1917-21 War of Independence; the 7th December 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty and the 14 January 1922 formation of the Irish Free State took plce in a decade that will require an honest exploration and reflection on key episodes in the modern history of the Irish nation. This coming decade will require Irish people to draw on the ethics and politics of memory to deal with many different versions of that history, ‘but also to remain open to the making of reconciliation or to the acceptance of different versions of aspects and events of memory as required.’
President Higgins invited the Irish at home and abroad to become involved with us in that ‘task of remaking the Irish economy and society.'
Irish People have Shared Hopes
The Irish are a creative, resourceful, talented and warm people, with a firm sense of common decency and justice. President Higgins ‘invites Irish people to address the next seven years with hope and courage as Irish people work together to build the future for an Ireland all the Irish feel part of, an Ireland all the people feel proud of.’
Sources
- Causes for Concern, Irish Politics, Culture and Society by Michael D Higgins, Liberties Press 2007
- President Michael D Higgins inauguration Speech 11/11/11 Dublin Castle, Ireland
- Renewing the Republic by Michael D Higgins, Liberties Press 2011
- Google.ie Michael D Higgins
- Gaza Palestine Irish President Michael D Higgins Report
Michael Manning - ' The best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity' W.B.Yeats
