IN years to come it’s very possible communications students will use President Higgins’ non-attendance at the forthcoming centenary church service as an example of how a potential controversy should not to handled.
The manner in which queries have gone unanswered, enabling the vacant space to be filled with speculation and conjecture, has all but outweighed any bad press arising from the decision itself – or what is being characterised as a ‘snub’.
The president’s critics have been free to take pot shots, while those who would ordinarily step up to defend him have been disarmed by an information vacuum.
The statement that was released by Áras an Uachtaráin on Wednesday as way of explanation failed in its objective and merely prompted more questions that remain unanswered. Was it a political decision? Is it due to ill-health? Or has something got lost in translation? The Dublin government too could have done more to shed some light on what’s going on.
Here in the north, we’re well accustomed to a drip feed and selective approach to disseminating information, and we tend to look south enviously at the more open and public manner in which its politics operates.
For example, when in 2018 the then Stormont First Minister Arlene Foster declined to send anybody to meet Pope Francis because she was otherwise engaged, we were offered no explanation – and few journalists sought one. Suck it up, move on.
We expect different from the president of Ireland, however, and especially from a head of state whose two tenures have been built on reconciliation and inclusiveness. He has none of the arrogance and dismissiveness associated with the aforementioned, erstwhile DUP leader, and yet that’s how he inadvertently comes across in this episode.
Meanwhile, the same party whose 50-year history is littered with examples of snubs, boycotts and protests has captured the moral high ground, suddenly casting itself as a paragon of outreach and understanding. The once measured Sir Jeffrey Donaldson seeking to milk every scintilla of political capital in an effort to counter his party’s looming electoral bankruptcy.
Whether it’s a diplomatic faux pas or mere PR shambles, we are unable to say but regrettably it reflects poorly on President Higgins, a man whose contribution to Irish life to date has been overwhelmingly positive.
Read more: President Michael D Higgins hits out at DUP criticism over NI centenary service invite
