Following the meeting, Pope Francis said: “Today I didn’t just meet a man, a President. I met a wise man of today. I thank God that Ireland has such a wise man at its head.”https://t.co/odHYgDqaQo
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) September 17, 2021
Um.
So, meeting this guy is OK?
Good to know.
Earlier…
President Higgins has hit out at former Taoiseach John Bruton’s comments, saying that he is wrong in his interpretation of the Constitution.
Says it is up to Mr Bruton if he wants to withdraw the remarks, and he says that they suggest that the President behaved improperly pic.twitter.com/j5L1oK9OrD
— Gabija Gataveckaitė (@gabysayshey) September 17, 2021
Meanwhile….
Celtic Supreme Commander Michael D Higgins, President of Ireland Except For Small Bit At The Top, speaks to reporters in Rome, Italy
Speaking in Rome President Higgins concedes the organisers of the centenary service always referred to him as the President of Ireland and not the Republic of Ireland as he told @harrymcgee
— Gareth Gordon (@BBCGarethG) September 17, 2021
This afternoon.
Huh?
Earlier…
President Michael D Higgins
This morning.
Via RTÉ:
President Michael D Higgins has defended his decision not to attend a commemorative church service in Armagh next month and does not intend to revisit the decision, a spokesman has said.
He told reporters that what had started out as an invitation to a religious service had, in fact, become a political statement.
President Higgins said the title of the event made it inappropriate for him to attend as it marked the centenaries of the partition of Ireland and the formation of Northern Ireland.
Mr Higgins said he had also been referred to as the President of the Republic of Ireland, when he was the President of Ireland.
President Higgins said he wished the service well and, in a reference to Queen Elizabeth, said there was no question of any snub intended to anybody.
President says it would be ‘inappropriate’ to attend Armagh event (RTE)
Meanwhile…
Former Taoiseach John Bruton
Uh oh.
Via Irish Times:
Former Fine Gael taoiseach John Bruton said Mr Higgins should attend the event and appeared not to have sought the advice of the Government as “he is obliged to do under the Constitution”.
Mr Bruton told BBC Radio Ulster on Friday morning: “If he had fulfilled his obligation under the Constitution, which is to take the advice of the Irish Government on this matter, they would have advised him that he ought to go.
“He seems to have some concern that it is in some way taking note of the existence of Northern Ireland as a separate entity.
“But the reality is that the Irish people in the Good Friday Agreement, which they voted on and approved in a referendum, accept the present wishes of the people of Northern Ireland to maintain the union, until that is changed.
“So, in accepting an invitation to an event which is simply marking the existence of Northern Ireland for 100 years, the President would have been acting in accordance with the wishes of the Irish people.”
Mr Bruton said “it appears he didn’t seek the advice of the Government which he is obliged to do under the Constitution”.
Fair play to Michael D. His instincts are always correct and anyway the DUP should not be given the credence they are getting from the media. Nice to see John Briton making a fool of himself again.
Except for the fact that both you and President Higgins are wrong and John Bruton is right. This is a set back for long term solutions. Typical of the populist socialist.
However the truth doesn’t matter anymore, so carry on
bruton is incorrect, there is no need to consult government. besides, the invitation sent doesn’t even recognise the president’s office correctly.
And even if Tan Bruton was right, Coventry has now said his dept. did consult with the Áras…
‘Tan Bruton’
good grief. Is this the level we are at now? Jaysus!
@ Andrew – Bruton is as much of Neocon as we have. He adores Anglo-American global power.
Andrew, you and John would have to go to court to argue that the President doesn’t have the authority to refuse an invitation. Good luck.
What a load of nonsense, no Irish President would ever attend a service commemorating the partitioning of Ireland.
+ 1. Fair play to Michael D. Fupp the inbred freak of the DUP.
The DUP have for decades protested at every visit to the six counties by our Presidents.
Never mind their refusal to attend the north/south body.
GO ON THE MIGGLDY!
Proper order
I agree 100% with Michael D. The title of the service is effectively an explicit endorsement of partition not to mention an invite issued to an office that is constitutionally non-existent. There is no such office of state with the title of “President of the Republic of Ireland”. Nor might I add does the entity “Irish Republic”, a term beloved of the “Democratic” Unionist Party, exist as a sovereign nation.
If the DUP are seeking parity of esteem, they would be wise to revisit their cack-handed and resolutely partisan approach to Brexit, rowing in four square behind the most unhinged and cretinous of Brexiters, giving two-fingers to the will of the majority of voters in the portion of Ireland that is currently styled “Northern Ireland”.
“If the DUP are seeking parity of esteem…”
lol
the words DUP and PARITY cannot be written in the same sentence ever, mutually exclusive, the word I think you’re looking for there is SUPREMACIST
I wondered if you had the teeth but very nicely played Michael D
At least they didn’t call it Southern Ireland!
Irish media unused to seeing a politician with a backbone.
They addressed the invitation to the President of the ‘Republic of Ireland’ which is not his title. Deliberately trying to goad him and showing the DUP up as the shrieking lunatics that they are.
well played michael d.
Top man!
Guffaw Bruton quivering with annoyance that our President declined an offer from FG/DUP to make a fool of himself. Frank Feighan must also be annoyed.
Note to FG/DUP – there’s always time to change the addressee on the invite and insert the proper title. Then again, perhaps not.
FG/DUP – ROFL! You are as bad as any deranged DUPer low born mad auld GiggidyGums. And you doubtless look like them too. Alas but to quell your usual nonsense – borne of nothing more than your life malaise and blaming everyone but yourself for it – but Regina Doherty was very quick to distance herself from John Bruton’s stance on Claire Byrne earlier.
Twit.
Ah bless! Bitty. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3206zv
Guffaw! Something I said?
Bit cranky after d’aul night shift -and at your age. Suits you though – perfect for ya Mr GGums.
;-p
Bitty.
Auld lad GiggidyGums. :-)
Bitty. Hawhaaawwwww. Exactly. Bittyboxy. Hehehhe.
Ah now, mad auld GiggidyGums loves a bitty of Bitnboxy! Really he does.
Also, literally nobody cares. This site is well on the decline.
Wind ups only way to go.
You’ve been called out by a few people here regarding your wind-ups, as you call them. Papi, Janet, McCabe, Millie to mention a few.
Bitty.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BU-s3_sfk4s
Bring back Charger
Tubbs?
lol sure she’d say mass if it meant being popular and getting the seat back
who cares what she has to say?
Hon Miggledy
Perfectly played
+1 And Michael D has managed to unite all shades of political opinion in his stance. Aside from Bruton, the cuddly folks at Grift Youth Defence Media and the Iona “Institute”, there are few who disagree with Miggledy’s reasoning.
“President of the Republic of Ireland” particularly insulting.
Well played indeed.
Respect his stance on this matter 100%.
Does the d in dup stand for divisive or democratic, please remind me.
If the queen of england wants to meet himself, she knows where to find him.
All grist to the unionist mill. Helping to get the NO vote out in any future referendum. A small modicum of violence should scare off the middle classes in the 26 and bingo the more things change the more they stay the same.
i like kittens
I wouldn’t say she sees it as a snub
her staff mebbe
I’d say she’s mortified by that invite
and furious her staff dragged her into that mess
and dragged it all up
and remind the World of the history of her Commonwealth and her Army
And at a time when she may not get a chance to come back and do the cupla focal n’ all that around Croke Park
i like kittens
“He enters the political fray all the time pushing his various hobby-horses”
What’s he supposed to do?
What or whose hobby-horses should he, in his largely ceremonial role, be pushing?
A minor tree-planting ceremony ! ROFL.
Lol. “Gargoyle” – what are the chances “Mick Costello” is himself aesthetically challenged? Pretty high I’d say. And I’ll bet he is a short-assed goon to boot. Always the same: true as night follows day.
Queen Elizabeth was barely 5’2″ in her heyday with Margaret an inch shorter. She is well under that now at 95. Probably nearer Mick Costello’s height but then again such physical limitations are irrelevant if one spends most of one’s time in a basement or similar location.
Chortle!
psst Mick
its no longer an event
its another mess for the Palace
And its World News that Uachtarán na hÉireann has had to tell the Brits that he is President of IRELAND
Ah shur
It lets us bring up Unity Poll, Brexit, and Unionist KnuckleDraggers
I’d say the Queen would love to refuse the invitation herself.
She doesn’t want to be leaving Andrew by himself these days.
some bang o charger off this lad
“some bang o’ charger off this lad” – should be the secret phrase used for BS commenters to recognise each other in the real world…
if that ever happened, the internet would explode
I quite like the funny handshake
All the same please take a moment to further review the circus sideshow act of bitnboxy/giggidy/qanonfire/ematty/kcavan/soq which has taken its place? Nature truly does abhor a vacuum
As far as mount(youngboys)batten is concerned, she may have been less upset then you imagine at his demise.
Hate to go against the higgins love-in here but it’s a massive own goal and missed opportunity. I’m reminded of the hooha that surrounded Prince Phillip attending Hirohito’s funeral. The UK was up in arms but he turned it around completely by simply not bowing to the coffin. It was a simple gesture that, to the Japanese, spoke everything about the contempt he actually held for the man
Higgins bottled this one and his quibbling over the name just makes him look a pedant.
Imagine going all the way to Japan to behave like a teenager.
Acting like a teenager would be throwing a sulk and not going. Acting like an adult is using your position to highlight your disgust at the horrifying torture and ultimate deaths of 30,000 prisoners – deplorable actions that, by 1989, must people your age knew nothing about.
Higgins had a platform to actually act like a President – he bottled it. Ireland should be ashamed of him
I agree
Of course it’s all the usual blowhards on here and the usual execrable bloviated Mr Bruton weighing in on this – to pick sides- but the clever thing would have been to quietly accept the invitation and then call out the organisers on the day of the event itself.
I don’t agree your point about Hirohito though.
I can see how Philip looked at it as he has that old school way of behaving but I would not have gone in his shoes.
MICKY D:
“Yesterday I decided to refuse to attend a commemoration event as I was scandalously called ‘PRESIDENT OF REPUBLIC OF IRELAND'”
Also MICKY D:
“Yesterday I met Italian President who called me the ‘PRESIDENT OF REPUBLIC OF IRELAND’.
I loved that so much retweeted it”
https://twitter.com/BorderSolution_/status/1438836860873216011
Flimsy enough there Cian.
Yesterday he declined to attend a commemorative service commemorating the 100th anniversary of the establishment of a supremacist state.
Not separately, but tangled up in all of that, he was referred to as the President of the Republic of Ireland in the invite.
He can go/or not go the the event. But it shouldn’t have anything to do with the name on the invite.
—
Although the latest update suggests he wasn’t referred to as the “President of the Republic of Ireland “in the invite. .
The Italians definitely used that (see link above).
The name on the invite thing was never given as THE reason though, as you have stated above in your imagined paraphrasing ?
Do you think he should have accepted or not accepted the invite to go to the event?
He didn’t give a specific reason for not attending (that I am aware of).
He choose to tell report that he had been referred to as the “President of the Republic of Ireland” which has subsequently been retracted.
Why is he not going?
I notice you Dodged the question ‘Do you think he should have accepted or not accepted the invite to go to the event?’
Lads it’s very simple / he IS the President of the Republic of Ireland.
This was a set up invitation. Had he gone he was in trouble Had he not gone he was in trouble. Donaldson is doing things cleverly these days unlike Poots or his predecessor. The winner here in Unionist eyes is Donaldson. However he’s still stifled in what he can do because of numbers. He will make grand statements but in effect can do nothing because if he calls an election now he will lose dramatically
Thanks Al!
Erm, the “event” is still one to commemorate the foundation of the entity currently known as “Northern Ireland” with a history of institutionalised bigotry and sectarianism against nearly half of its population. The title of this “event” is not politically neutral and Michael D. Higgins is in no position to even contemplate an acknowledgement of this artificial “province” and the division of our island.
We celebrate stuff here all the time and yet we’ve historically both imprisoned and eviscerated gays, unmarried mothers, children born outside of marriage, children born, children not born, many of the living and also many of the dead, travellers, women, asylum seekers, people living in the inner cities … or in Leitrim or Mayo
You had a point?
Mickey D was ‘woke’ before a lot of you were even born.
He owes no apologies to anyone.
Northern Ireland is a failed sectarian state and in diplomatic terms the invitation was measured as an insult. Higgins is absolutely right.
Anyone know who invited him?
The event is organised by the 4 main christian churches in N.Ireland so they invited him.
Normal RC hierarchy bs
The optics are pretty bad on this one, and the “name calling” title has been debunked.
He should have gone with his wife Sabrina wearing a nice frock with a slogan written on the back “The Pope trumps the Queen” or some other subtle slogan, maybe, even, as gaeilge. Isn’t that how it’s done these days?
Diplomatic solutions exist as well.
MDH…. biggest sham in Irish politics since CJH….. feted by the Irish Oirish Times brigade and various other middle class wannabes who think his pompous language is some sort of sign of intellectualism ……… And consistently forgive him his constant glaring hypocrisies ……Its almost funny to see the adoration of such a glaring sham
What’s a sham about him exactly?