PRESIDENT MICHAEL D Higgins has apologised for “any offence which he may have inadvertently caused” to the chair of an upcoming four-day public consultation on security policy over what an Áras spokesperson described as a “throwaway remark” in an interview published over the weekend.
In an interview published by the Business Post yesterday, Higgins said Ireland was “playing with fire” in a “drift” away from neutrality.
Higgins said that the “most dangerous moment in the articulation and formulation of foreign policy and its practice, since the origin of diplomacy, has been when you’re drifting and not knowing what you’re doing.”
“I would describe our present position as one of drift.”
In comments about the chair of the forum, Louise Richardson, he 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 – is to chair the process and produce a report for the government afterwards.
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 the Business Post 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.”
A number of political and diplomatic figures had criticised the comments. Former foreign affairs minister and Fine Gael backbencher Charlie Flanagan said the remarks were “unnecessary, unfair and disappointing”.
“As well as being first woman head of Oxford University Louise is a most distinguished Irish woman with a long academic interest in Security,” Flanagan, who now chairs the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence, said on Twitter.
On RTÉ’s Morning Ireland this morning, Independent TD Cathal Berry said Higgins had made “very personalised comments” about Richardson, which he said were “not appropriate”.
In a tweet, former Irish ambassador to the UK Daniel Mulhall said he had no objection to Higgins “expressing his views on issues of national significance, but his personalised criticism of the forum’s chair is regrettable”.
In a statement issued this lunchtime, a spokesperson from Áras an Uachtaráin said:
“We are happy to clarify that the President made the comment to which you refer, over the course of a long interview, while he was looking at a copy of the programme for the Forum and was referring casually to the fact that almost every reference to Professor Richardson in the programme was in a bold typeface, with however, DBE in capital letters after her name. Indeed, the President’s exact words were ‘a very large letter DBE’.
The President intended no offence by such a casual remark. He apologises for any offence which he may have inadvertently caused to Professor Richardson by what was a throwaway remark.
“As a political scientist and sociologist the President is familiar with Professor Richardson’s work. He has too, with others, an appreciation for the initiatives for which Professor Richardson was awarded her DBE, in attracting more undergraduates from non-traditional or deprived backgrounds to Oxford University,” the spokesperson said.
Higgins has also been criticised by a number of politicians in relation to his remarks on neutrality ahead of the Government’s consultative forum on international security.
The forum will examine Ireland’s current international partnerships in the area of peace and security. It will also facilitate discussion on the long-standing policy of military neutrality.
Ministers making media appearances yesterday issued carefully-worded responses to questions on Higgins’ comments, with Justice Minister Helen McEntee telling Newstalk’s Gavan Reilly “the President himself knows where the boundaries are”.
Neale Richmond, the junior enterprise minister, told RTÉ’s The Week in Politics that Higgins’ comments had been “close to the line”.
In her comments to Newstalk, McEntee said that while many would agree with Higgins’ remarks on neutrality, “There are many who would disagree, and that’s why we need to have this forum”.
Her Fine Gael colleague Richmond told RTÉ the President’s comments were “well held”.
“Foreign affairs policy will of course be driven by the government and indeed by the Oireachtas. I recognise President Higgins’ comments, they are well held, decades-held opinions and comments,” he said.
He added: “He certainly goes close to the line to be honest, but we do recognise and the one thing when I read the report initially this morning I was a little bit disappointed, but I’ve now come full circle.
“We want people to engage in this consultative forum starting this week. We’ve already seen 900 registering, we’ve already seen 300 submissions.”
“So let’s have that debate, let’s have that discussion. It’s not a binary decision. We want all voices to be heard, and more importantly, to be felt like they’ve been heard as well.”
Richmond confirmed that he did not think Higgins’ comments had crossed the line.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was asked about Higgins’ remarks at the news media conference in Dublin’s DCU this afternoon.
While he did not mention the President by name or comment on his intervention, he defended the Government’s forum.
One thing I can be very, very clear about is Ireland isn’t going to join NATO.
“That’s not on the agenda of this government, I don’t think it’s on the agenda of any political party in Ireland,” the Taoiseach said.
He said Ireland is not joining a military alliance and that the forum is about having an in-depth conversation about the future of the country’s defence and security policy “because the world has changed”.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar asked about President Higgins' comments on neutrality, he didn't comment on nature of intervention but defended the Forum.
— Rónán Duffy (@ronanduffy_) June 19, 2023
"One thing I can be very, very clear about is Ireland isn't going to join NATO. That's not on the agenda of this government." pic.twitter.com/Ha6uRyKLfN
“The threats and security threats that exist are different to those in the past, we already had a significant cyber attack on our health service in recent years”, he continued.
“There are industrial espionage and hybrid threats, so it’s a different security environment to that would have been the case, for example, during the Cold War. So we have to think about the rest of our security and defense policy.
“The forum has lots of people involved, free sessions, hundreds of speakers, and invitees. So, essentially, what we’re going to do as a country is to improve our own defence spending around defence capability. Everything from staffing to equipment to radar, for example.
“In addition to that, we’ll be continuing with partnerships with our allies.
So it is an evolving situation, but certainly maintaining military neutrality is the policy of the government.”
However, opposition TDs have spoken in support of the President and criticised the forum.
People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that the forum is “a heavily biased one”. that is dominated by people with pro-NATO or pro-EU militarisation views.
“The forum is absolutely dominated by people who’ve worked in the military, have associations with NATO or have a record of arguing for Ireland to move away from neutrality or towards NATO or into the project of EU militarisation,” he said.
He said the government are trying to condition public opinion to move away from neutrality and towards NATO alliance “by stealth”.
Fair play to Michael D. There is a dangerous and conscious move from gov away from neutrality and towards alignment with NATO. The gov forum is completely biased, part of an effort to condition public opinion away from neutrality. @IrishNeutrality https://t.co/0GoYtJn98K
— Richard Boyd Barrett (@RBoydBarrett) June 18, 2023
Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast, former Independent TD Shane Ross said Higgins’ expressing his opinion was a “good thing”.
“I think where he’d be overstepping the line is if he was trying to do things that the government was trying to do,” he said.
“But the idea that he shouldn’t express a strong opinion on an issue, which we know – those who supported him and still support him – he’s always felt strongly about, and the idea that he should shut up about it is quite honestly ridiculous.”
Ross also said he thought the President should address a joint sitting of the Oireachtas on the issue of neutrality.
Speaking on The Week in Politics, Social Democrat TD Gary Gannon said the President had a moral right to contribute to the discussion around the consultative forum on international security.
“He didn’t cross the line at all, he has a moral right to be able to give his views on such an important issue.
“We are talking about issues of foreign policy but there are also already citizens who will be expected to take part should their neutrality be challenged,” he said.
In a statement yesterday afternoon, Tánaiste and Minister for Defence and Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin hit back at the President’s remarks without mentioning his name.
He said the consultative forum was “not a binary” discussion on Ireland’s military neutrality.
The Consultative Forum on International Security Policy begins in UCC on Thursday, before moving to the University of Galway on Friday. It also meets for two days in Dublin Castle next week.
- Includes reporting from Jane Moore and Press Association
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