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MICHAEL D HIGGINS will be formally inaugurated as President of Ireland for the second time at Dublin Castle this evening.
At midnight last night his first term officially ended and for around 18 hours Ireland will not officially have a President.
That’s nothing to worry about though, as those duties are taken over by the Presidential Commission during that time. There is no legislation currently waiting to be signed by the President and even if there was, there is always a three-day window for bills and he could sign it tonight after the inauguration.
Normally, the inauguration would take place at noon, but this time Higgins asked the government to move it to evening to facilitate events for the centenary of World War I Armistice taking place earlier in the day.
The government has asked President Higgins to represent the people of Ireland at the State event in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin to mark the centenary of the end of the war.
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It was important for Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to write to Higgins with this request. He will not be there as President of Ireland, but at the request of the government as a representative of the people.
During the time between the end of his term and the inauguration this evening, he does not have an official title – we do not have the term ‘President-elect’ in the Irish Constitution.
This evening Higgins will leave the Áras at 6pm and will be accompanied by his usual escort to Dublin Castle, where members of the Houses of the Oireachtas will be waiting.
He will then take an oath and sign some paperwork and as the band kicks in to mark the moment, he will be deemed officially inaugurated as Pesident of Ireland for the second time.
Two flags will be raised – one in Dublin Castle and another at the Áras to indicate that there is a sitting president.
Higgins will then return to the Áras for an evening reception.
We’ll have more on the inauguration later today.
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Hope he wears the Irish Poppy to remember all the Irish men and women from this island who died during WW1. They joined up for different reasons, but all made the ultimate sacrifice and deserved to be remembered. In a democracy everyone has the right to wear a poppy or not, and be respected for their decision
@Stephen Kearon: there are many way to remember Irish men and women who died during war. Wearing synonyms of british military charities is not one of them.
For the supreme commander of the Irish defence forces to wear a poppy is tantamount to treason.
@Stephen Kearon: it would be better if our politicians wore a tri colour unreal how they shy away from that but wear other idiotic symbols get them out and let real Irish politicians in who are proud to be Irish
@Stephen Kearon: Why this obsession with separating Ireland from the rest of the world? The poppy is almost universally recognised in the Western world – and India and South East Asia for that matter – as a symbol of remembrance. It signifies we’re all connected. Having an “Irish Poppy” rather misses the whole point.
@Stephen Kearon: What do you think he should wear to commemorate the genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Irish people which occurred just 69 years before the start of WW1?
Since he is a regular Joe Bloggs till 6pm does that mean he will have to dress himself, feed himself, drive himself to Glasnevin etc because he has no staff to run around after him today.
@Johnny Mason: gosh, you guys must lead very begrudging lives, couldn’t just omit the mud slinging for 1 day- even for the memories of lost loved ones..pretty pathetic.
@Margate: when it is clearly apparent that leaders of many Countries sent these loved ones unnecessarily to their graves it is justified to to remind your so called graceful eloquent coherent and sincere manners Presidents of today; Society as a whole will not be used as fodder for Political gains in today’s World
@Eire: In all, about 210,000 Irishmen served during World War One. Since there was no conscription, about 140,000 of these joined during the war as volunteers. Some 35,000 Irish died. The fact that many were Nationalist, many Unionist, all Irish, serving together with distinction in Irish regiments has often since been forgotten or whitewashed from Irish history.
Alongside Aussies, Kiwis, over a million Indians etc.
But they weren’t from “your side” so to buggery with them? Right.
Thankfully we have a Statesman to represent us in a graceful, eloquent, coherent and sincere manner in memory of the tens of thousands who lost their lives – And those events are viewed globally so he will never let us down. Plus he selflessy prioritized this Event Before his own inauguration.
@Margate: Yeah, put being inaugurated as President of Ireland as second in importance,is going to this masquerade as an ordinary civilian, and will cap off his day with his big party anyway….take off those rose tinted glasses
Atheist Ireland is today launching a ‘One Oath For All’ campaign, to enable conscientious atheists to hold the office of President, Judge, Taoiseach, or other members of the Council of State. This is because, in order to take office as President, Judge, or Taoiseach, we would have to swear a religious oath that would force us to dissemble about our beliefs, and breach our human right to freedom of conscience and belief.
We want a referendum to replace these religiously discriminatory oaths in our Constitution, so that all citizens of our Republic can be treated equally regardless of their religious or nonreligious beliefs. These public office-holders should instead make a single declaration of loyalty to the Irish Constitution, State, and people, that does not reveal anything about the person’s religious or nonreligious beliefs.
@David Thomas: personally, I don’t give a diddle about these religious oaths. They mean nothing to me and have no repercussions if I subsequently break the oath. You might as well as me to swear by the power of greyskull.
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