Michael D still has stamina to play the political game
World of Politics with Harry McGee – [email protected]
Nobody can deny that Michael D Higgins loves his sport; there he was at the League final in Croke Park on Sunday, fresh from his attendance at the club finals on St Patrick’s Day.
He was a massive Galway United fan when he still lived in the city, and still goes to the occasional League of Ireland game in Dalymount or Richmond Park.
So the President is a sports fan; big deal, you might say. But that notion of never being “as láthair” extends to every facet of his public life.
Higgins has been a diligent, and ubiquitous, and popular president since 2011, and has achieved approval ratings similar to his predecessor Mary McAleese – a huge achievement, given her massive popularity.
Seven years on from a gruelling and brutal election campaign, he is now edging closer to declaring his interest in a second term – something he more or less ruled out when running first time out.
That said, what started out as a firm commitment earlier in that campaign saw Michael D become a little more circumspect and ambivalent towards the end, buoyed by a strong swing away from Sean Gallagher towards him.
“One can never predict the love of the people,” he replied.
Since 2015, he has been making dropping increasingly pointed comments he was seriously considering a second term in the Aras – and over the last three months, that has crystallised into an explicit desire.
He set out to have a Presidency that would allow young people have a voice, he also promised initiatives on ethics. And he achieved both, involving the universities, in particular, in helping him set out a vision for an ethical Ireland.
The former Galway West TD arrived in the Aras after more than four decades in the cut-and-thrust of politics. He had become a redoubt for left-wing thinking in the decidedly centrist Labour Party. This was a political leopard who wasn’t going to lose his spots.
The notion of the President being apolitical is not enshrined in the Constitution but became accepted practice. Higgins has been perhaps the most political of our Presidents without ever being party partisan.
To read Harry’s column in full, please see this week’s Connacht Tribune.