THE CHAIR OF the consultative forum on international security policy has said she accepts Michael D Higgins’ comments about her were a “throwaway remark” but unlike the President she does not detect a drift to NATO.
Louise Richardson, who received a Dame of the British Empire honour for academic work in British universities, had come in for criticism from Higgins in an interview with the Business Post.
In comments about the chair of the forum, Louise Richardson, Higgins was reported as having described her as having “a very large DBE – Dame of the British Empire”.
Richardson – a counterterrorism expert who now heads up US-based philanthropic fund the Carnegie Corporation and is a former vice-Chancellor of Oxford – had chaired the first day’s meeting in University College Cork.
She was given the UK Government award in 2022 in recognition of her services to higher education, in particular for attracting more students from disadvantaged backgrounds to Oxford.
In the comments reported by journalist Barry Whyte regarding her appointment, Higgins said: “I think it’s grand, but, you know, I think that there were a few candidates I could have come up with myself.”
This evening, following the conclusion of the first day of the event, she accepted the apology but cautioned that she did not want to get into a “public row” with the President.
“I have been an admirer of Michael D. Higgins since since my student days, and I think he made a throwaway remark. He apologised graciously for it,” she said.
Richardson also spoke about the views of politicians who claim she is not the correct person to chair the committee.
“I thought, my goodness, those people, they’ve never read a thing I’ve written because I’ve lectured on foreign and security policy for decades. And they attributed to me views that are antithetical to the views I hold. So I was surprised by those remarks. Definitely.
“Did it put me off? Well, it certainly isn’t pleasant having these attributed to you, when you spent a lot of time articulating views that are quite different, but such is life,” she added.
She said that the first day’s discussions were nuanced and that there was no campaign to move towards NATO membership.
“I’m not going to get into a public row with the President, I think that would be inappropriate.
“I’m here as an independent chair, my job is to make sure that as many voices as possible are heard in this debate, so I would worry about a direct answer to your question could be construed as my publicly disagreeing with the President, my personal view is I do not detect any drift towards NATO, I have to say, towards joining NATO,” she added.
Richardson, who was a senior academic for much of her career at Oxford, also spoke about the moment that protesters began shouting at the panel.
“I’ve run universities for the past 14 years, I’ve been in universities my entire life since the day I left Tramore and so I respect people’s right to protest.
“I think it’s a hallmark of an open society. So I welcome people’s right to protest.
“What I found unfortunate about the protesters this morning was that they seemed unwilling, their effort was to prevent anybody else’s voice being heard. So I think everybody has a right to be heard.
“I welcome protesters expressing their point of view, but I think an effort to drown out the Tánaiste and indeed myself doesn’t demonstrate commitment to freedom of speech, which is the value I hold, which is why I respect people’s right to protest. So I thought it was unfortunate that they they use the protests to try and drown out the voices of others. But their right to protest I fully respect,” she added.
The Forum continues in Galway tomorrow.
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