Opinion

Tom Kelly: Michael D Higgins right not to give in to faux outrage

Tom Kelly

Tom Kelly

Tom Kelly is an Irish News columnist with a background in politics and public relations. He is also a former member of the Policing Board.

Controversy: President Michael D Higgins has decided not to attend a church service to mark Northern Ireland's centenary next month
Controversy: President Michael D Higgins has decided not to attend a church service to mark Northern Ireland's centenary next month Controversy: President Michael D Higgins has decided not to attend a church service to mark Northern Ireland's centenary next month

All Hail the Chief!

A hearty congratulations to An Uachtarán na hÉireann Michael D Higgins for not giving into the shrill and faux outrage over his decision not to attend a religious service loaded with political overtones to mark the partition of Ireland and the formation of Northern Ireland.

The president is also right not to revisit his decision. The partition of Ireland is not a cause for celebration for the nationalist community. The creation of Northern Ireland was a human calamity on both sides of the border. And it was made worse by the way political unionists operated the artificially created statelet for nearly fifty years.

Northern Ireland exists and that’s a reality but it’s hardly a reason for non unionists to break into spontaneous applause. Thankfully, we have now shared institutions of administration and power-sharing embedded into the democratic system.

Those who wish to mark the formation of Northern Ireland, unionists and others like the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin, are free to do so. To his credit, Archbishop Martin outlined his position on the centenary events in January 2021 when he criticised nationalist leaders for their response. That said, the archbishop is hardly a reliable touchstone when it comes to reflecting national sentiment.

Declining to join in some centenary events is not a snub or an insult to anyone. Not to the organisers, not to unionists and certainly not to the queen. President Higgins and Queen Elizabeth have extended to each other every courtesy and respect over the joint ceremonies they shared and attended. That has not changed.

The title of the event was clearly not thought out. Certainly the role of the President of Ireland was not fully considered. The absence of politicians does not mean the event isn’t political and being held in a cathedral doesn’t and can’t disguise this fact.

The former Fine Gael taoiseach John Bruton would do well to maintain a dignified silence rather than join in the snarky chorus of unionists lecturing the President of Ireland on what he should or should not do when exercising his judgment.

The president has been a role model in word and deed for reconciliation within the island of Ireland and between Britain and Ireland. The same cannot be said for his new found critics.

For the record - Michael D Higgins is the President of Ireland and represents all Irish people at home and abroad.

His integrity is second to none.

Lectures on the language of peace and acts of reconciliation from the likes of Jeffrey Donaldson - a man who undermined his own former leader David Trimble during the Good Friday negotiations, then opposed the same agreement when he joined the DUP, and who now threatens to pull down Stormont to throw Northern Ireland into economic and political chaos, is nothing more than shameless opportunism. The public see through this misplaced moralising. Frankly, the DUP complaining about the message the absence of President Higgins sends to the general unionist population within Northern Ireland is a bit rich given their short-sighted decision to withdraw from all cross border bodies on the island of Ireland.

Stephen Farry of the Alliance Party, who also called on the president to attend the Armagh event, seems to be suffering from a form of political amnesia given that his former leader, David Ford, in 2016 declined to attend an official commemoration of the Easter Rising.

President Higgins has exercised his judgment before as in 2016 when he chose not to attend a 1916 event in Belfast City Hall as it possibly drew him into political controversy and impacted on his neutrality.

All this nonsense will pass and President Higgins will get on being an outstanding ambassador for the people of Ireland.

The kerfuffle and brouhaha is nothing more than those serially offended seeking offence where there is none.

Little wonder the president would rather spend the day with the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society in the Aras.