TAOISEACH MICHÉAL MARTIN has commented on the controversy that has surrounded Sabina Higgins and her letter in the Irish Times about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Higgins came under fire for her letter, in which she called for ceasefire negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. In a statement yesterday evening, she said she was “dismayed” that people took issue with her “plea for peace” in a letter to the Irish Times.
Speaking in Cork today, the Taoiseach said:
“I think Miss Sabina Higgins has clarified the situation in terms of her statement. And I think the President, to be fair, also reiterated his strong condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“The Irish government’s position has been consistent from the outset, and remains the position that the invasion was both illegal, immoral and was a terrible act against the people of Ukraine.”
He said the Irish government’s position, along with others in the European Union, is “unequivocal that Russia should withdraw to a minimum to the positions before the war started”.
“And in our view, we’re clear also that many efforts were made by European Union leaders like Chancellor Scholz and Emmanuel Macron to get Vladimir Putin, to deter him from starting the war in first instance”, he said.
“There were many, many engagements with him, as we know. And unfortunately, I think he has an imperialist 19th Century view of life. And he resolved to invade Ukraine and he did,” said the Taoiseach.
Martin also said that people are entitled to their own opinion. When asked if the controversy over the letter has has caused embarrassment for the Government, he said he didn’t see it that way.
Agree on the need for peace
“We live in a democracy too and we have to be conscious of that, people are entitled to their viewpoints. I think we’re all agreed on the need for peace. So there’s no argument there about the need for peace,” Martin added.
“The government’s view is that Russia has to stop the violence, stop the war and withdraw from the territories that it is now occupying since the commencement of this particular war. And that remains our position along with the European Union member states,” he said.
I think everybody accepts, there is no equivalence between Vladimir Putin and President Zelensky. Ukraine didn’t want this war. Europe didn’t want this war. Europe tried everything it could, as did President of the United States to prevent this war from occurring. And terrible, terrible damage has been done as a result of the war. A terrible number of lives have been lost and it is needless, it’s reprehensible, it should end.
“I think all of us on this island and all of us across Europe share a basic point, that peace is something that we all want. And that’s the bottom line in terms of all of the statements that have been made,” he said.
When asked about Sabina Higgins having a separate section on the presidential website for her own comments, the Taoiseach said that this was not the first time a statement from the president’s wife has appeared on the website, as was clarified in her statement yesterday.
The Taoiseach said over the years an “informal practice” has “built up” where the president’s wife may go to a particular opening or adopt a particular cause for the benefit of communities.
He added that there was now a need to move on from the subject, stating that there has been an extensive debate on the issue over the last number of days.
“I think we need to have a sense of perspective about it. I think there has been a lot of debate. That’s important. And I think we live in a democracy. And it’s good that we have people’s viewpoints articulated and so forth…
“I think, in my view, it’s time to move on from it now,” he said.
The Taoiseach also clarified that he has not spoken to the president about the matter.
Letter calling for ceasefire negotiations
In her statement yesterday, Sabina Higgins said: “For the last 11 years since coming to Áras an Uachtaráin as the wife of the President, I have continued my long standing interests on a number of important issues. Since 2014, I have had a dedicated section on the President.ie website.
“This section contains details of activities I have been undertaking including speeches and work towards the implementation of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, health issues, breastfeeding, issues affecting the Traveller Community, human rights, supporting the arts and a range of other issues.
Last week I had been asked about my letter to the Irish Times, which I had written in a personal capacity, by a number of people who had missed it, and had not been able to access it online. I therefore put it on my dedicated section of the website as I have done for the last number of years
The letter was published on Mrs Higgins’s section of the president.ie website – it was not visible on any other part of the website. To view the article, a user had to click on the ‘Sabina Higgins’ link from the main page.
She continued: “Having put my letter up, I subsequently took it down when I saw it being presented as not being from myself, but from the general President.ie website.
“I have from its outset strongly condemned the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine and I cannot be but dismayed that people would find anything unacceptable in a plea for peace and negotiations when the future of humanity is threatened by war, global warming and famine.”
The letter
The letter, published on 27 July in response to the paper’s editorial on the war, said:
“Until the world persuades President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire and negotiations, the long haul of terrible war will go on. How can there be any winner?”
The Irish Times editorial “did not encourage any ceasefire negotiations that might lead towards a peace settlement between the Russians, the Ukrainian forces and the separatists”, she wrote.
While the letter was met with backlash from some critics such as Fine Gael Senator John McGahon and Fianna Fáil Malcolm Byrne, a number of other politicians, such as former minister Shane Ross spoke about the controversy, saying that calling on the President to clarify his wife’s statement as “ridiculous”.
Former Lord Mayor of Dublin Hazel Chu also said that Sabina Higgins has a long history of trying to encourage peace and that she had every right to offer her opinion on the subject.
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