Higgins only has himself to blame if he loses Áras poll

FOLLOWING months of speculation, Michael D Higgins confirmed the worstkept secret in public life by announcing that he wants a second term as President.

Part of me had thought he just wanted to keep everyone guessing until the last moment and that he would actually do the decent thing by bowing out. Talk about

naïve. I don’t really care who holds the presidency. As regular readers will know, my position is that it is no sort of job for a grown adult. But I fully accept that many people believe that Mr Higgins has been a great success since he was elected seven years ago.

Regardless of that, he has already damaged his legacy by reneging on his commitment to only serve one term. It was impossible to miss the sense of entitlement as he outlined his intentions on the RTÉ News last week. At one point, I thought he was about to start stamping his foot in anger at the thought of anyone objecting to his masterplan.

It is completely irrelevant that he has apparently been approached over the last 18 months by people urging him to run again. Speaking of which, who are these people exactly? I certainly haven’t met any and nor has anyone I know, though they’re presumably not a figment of the President’s imagination.

Meanwhile he shouldn’t forget he only landed in the Áras by default as practically the last man standing in the bruising 2011 campaign. So if he ends up with a bloodied nose and a tarnished reputation this time around, he will have nobody but himself to blame.