Letter from Dublin/Tim Kirk

‘Michael D.’ – Ireland’s hero and ally –  is leaving

a legacy marked by a devotion to fairness and justice

President Michael D. Higgins – known simply and affectionately by everyone in Ireland as “Michael D.” – will be leaving public office in November after fourteen years as the head of state. 

He is the most beloved Irish political leader of our age, and possibly any age. The legacies of other heroes like Michael Collins and Éamon deValera, who were rebels, allies, rivals, and adversaries, are still fiercely contested by the parties that descended from them.  Fine Gael and Fianna Fail now rule in coalition; their differences, politely highlighted only at election time, are mostly historical. Collins is criticized for accepting a deal from Lloyd George that formalized the partition of Ireland that led to the Irish Civil War, deValera for acceding vast power to the Catholic Church in the new Irish Free State.  Even the Great Liberator, Daniel O’Connell, has his critics. I met a descendant of his in Dublin a few years ago who believed that her famous ancestor had “sold out the Irish people” when he won religious freedom for Catholics but sacrificed the Irish language.

Ireland is bracing itself for a tearful farewell. A fierce advocate of progressive causes, Michael D. has somehow managed to transcend politics through his decency, erudition, integrity, honesty, generosity of spirit, humor, and courage.  He is Ireland’s beloved grandpa and the world’s conscience who, at 84, can still summon his outrage to stand up for the oppressed and mistreated. 

Michael D. Higgins was born in Limerick in 1941, the son of an IRA veteran of the war of independence.  Family circumstances were lean, and his father’s health was poor. Five-year-old Michael and his four-year-old brother John were sent to Clare to live with their bachelor uncle and aunt while his sisters stayed in Limerick to care for their parents. He did not start school until he was 7 but had learned to read at home.

Despite their desperate poverty, his aunt and uncle read the paper every day and young Michael started to read the headlines and then any book he could find. After passing his leaving cert in Latin and Greek, Michael worked in a factory where he joined a union and then worked as a clerk in a bank.  He was a voracious reader and devoted conversationalist and with loans, scholarships, and a gift from a benefactor, Michael was able to attend University College Galway.  He blossomed as a scholar and poet, earning a master’s degree in sociology at Indiana University Bloomington.

As a student he joined Fianna Fail but driven by his socialist beliefs, quickly changed his affiliation to the Labor party He lost races for the Dail in 1969 and 1973, but was nominated to the Seanad by Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave.  In the Senate, he established himself as a left-wing firebrand on domestic and international issues. In Ireland he advocated for women’s rights, gay rights, the rights of those with autism or other disabilities and the poor.

Michael D married actress Sabina (neé Coyne) in 1974 and they raised four children. He fought for the repeal of the 8th amendment that banned abortion, for divorce to be legalized, and he championed the Irish language, arts and culture.  As Minister for Arts and Culture and the Gaeltacht, he established the Irish Film Board and was responsible for the creation of the first Irish Language TV station, TG4.

Many attribute the current international success of Irish film to the policies Michael D. championed. “Braveheart” was filmed in Ireland in 1994, thanks to Michael D.'s negotiating an agreement personally with Mel Gibson. Also in 1994, he repealed Section 31 that had banned Sinn Fein spokespeople from the airwaves, eight months before the IRA ceasefire. 

On international issues, Michael followed his conscience as well.  In 1982 he visited El Salvador to investigate the massacre of more than one thousand campesinos by government death squads armed and equipped by the United States.  His HotPress articles on the massacre were so compelling and widely read that hearings in the US Congress were held. He was among protestors at University College Galway objecting to the presence of Ronald Reagan in 1984.

He was, and is, an unapologetic intellectual who is willing to fight for his beliefs. As a sitting TD he campaigned to prevent the Iraq war, visiting the country in January 2003 for five days saying he was ‘putting a brick in the wall against war.’   He met with then deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz. He was a leading figure in a peace protest in Dublin in February 2003, where over 100,000 people assembled.  He led protests against the use of Shannon airport as a refueling station for American planes ferrying soldiers and weapons to the Middle East. He criticized Bush, Rumsfeld, and Cheney’s war and the needless destruction of lives and infrastructure in Iraq that would result. As we all know, Bush went to war anyway, backed by Iraq war enthusiasts like Benjamin Netanyahu and reluctant but still culpable partners like Tony Blair.  Higgins has written recently that the world has still not recovered from that war of choice that breached the UN Charter.

He considered running for president in 2004, but Mary McAleese was viewed as unbeatable. In 2005, he spent a week in Palestine and Israel visiting both Gaza and the West Bank.   In 2011, he ran for president and was endorsed by Hollywood actor Martin Sheen, who called him a ‘dear friend.’  He won a convincing victory.

During the campaign he pledged that at the age 70 he would serve only one term. During his first term, in 2014, he became the first Irish head of state to visit the United Kingdom in 2014.  Fluent in Irish and English, he once used his summer vacation to travel to Spain for a three-week language immersion program to improve his Spanish. He praised Fidel Castro and publicly stated that he received the news of Castro's death with ‘great sadness.’ In 2017, he became the first Irish head of state to visit Cuba, where he met Raul Castro.  In 2018, he declared that he felt “better at 77 than I did at 70” and that he had changed his mind about running for reelection.  He ran again, winning in a historic landslide. 

His second term coincided with the great decade of centenaries commemorating the traumatic events that led to Ireland’s independence.  The president approached these events with great tact, sensitivity, and scholarship, but he also stayed true to his principles, refusing to attend a commemoration event in Armagh in the north of Ireland honoring 100 years of partition.  His desire for peace and reconciliation did not mean he could celebrate the crime of Ireland’s separation.  Because of his refusal of the invitation, the Queen of England also canceled her attendance.  He did attend both Queen Elizabeth’s funeral in 2022 and King Charles’ coronation in 2023, two firsts for an Irish head of state.

Poet, socialist, intellectual, outspoken critic of capitalism, neoliberalism, and the war machines of the United States and Israel, Michael D. is the conscience of the left and champion of its causes. In recent years his criticism of Israeli policies in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, and Iran has made him a target of attacks by Israel.  The Israeli ambassador to Ireland was withdrawn in 2024 and the embassy shuttered.  The Israeli government has accused Ireland, the Irish people, and Michael D. himself of antisemitism.  He responded that this was a “gross defamation and slander.”

The president was honored recently for his service as a champion of the Irish language at the annual Fleadh Ceoil music festival held this year in Wexford. He used the opportunity to address the genocide in Palestine occurring before our eyes:

“I can't really stand in a public venue and give a public speech and speak about our language when I see such incredible, incredible destruction of an entire people. Are we to watch children starving, women dehydrated who are trying to feed their children?  Something must happen.

“I am personally in favor of the secretary-general of the UN using Chapter Seven procedure, by which, whether or not the Security Council agrees, and even if there's a blockage, the right exists for the Secretary-General to seek to put together an international defense of a corridor. There are 6,000 trucks with enough food for three months, and it has been blocked, and it is outrageous.”

While most world leaders sit cowardly on their hands, saying very little and doing even less, Michael D. is one voice brave enough to call for real action.

Christy Moore, another octogenarian legend/ national treasure, just released a new lyric poem entitled “Music to Our Ears” in his honor. The poem is searchable on YouTube (youtube.com/watch/?v=bGIlXDFV6tI) and says in part:

You are a voice for the voiceless

Like thunder in the plain

An empathetic ear for the afflicted

Selfless humble never vain

For more than 50 years, on issue after issue, Michael D.’s judgement has proven to be wise.  He was right that women should be paid equally, abortion should be legal, marriage should be available to everyone, the rights of disabled and minorities should be protected, and that the environment should be safeguarded. He was right about El Salvador and Iraq. He is right about Palestine.  Pope Francis himself called Michael D. “a wise man.”

Michael published four books of poetry before running for president of Ireland in 2011. More than twenty years ago, he wrote “When Will My Time Come?” that anticipates a moment in his life when he can admire only the scenery, the senses, the memories of a private world:

And, if there is healing,

It is in the depth of a silence,

Whose plumbed depths require

A journey through realms of pain

That must be faced alone.

The hero, setting out,

Will meet an ally at a crucial moment.

But the journey home

Is mostly alone.

And so, the goodbyes have well begun as has the race to replace Michael D.  For now, most people are living in denial.  They are proud of their president and do not want to consider a time when Michael D. is not their leader, a moral compass for Ireland and the world.

Ireland’s hero and ally will walk away alone from the Aras an Uachtaráin in November but leaving office will not silence Michael D.  He will never stop fighting for fairness and justice.  His own approach to life should inspire us all:

“As long as you’re drawing breath, stay curious, keep going”

–-Michael D. Higgins