Michael D should stop this political ploughing
THE last time I pitched up at the Ploughing Championships it was 2011, the month before the Presidential election. Michael D Higgins was in attendance and he cut a rather meek figure, standing at the edge of a marquee with his wife Sabina. No one paid him a blind bit of notice, save for a few Labour party lackeys, drumming up support for his Presidential bid which was falling apart, thanks to what then appeared as Seán Gallagher’s unstoppable march.
Fast-forward six years and 76-year-old President Michael D Higgins has transformed into the star of the Ploughing.
He officially opened it a few days ago, and as he moved among his grateful fans, he refused to be drawn on the burning question of seeking a second term in the Áras. ‘By the time of the next Ploughing you should have a very good idea,’ he said coyly. ‘I have ruled nothing out.’
His political cunning and reticence recalls Mary McAleese’s keep ’em guessing strategy when she decided to make hers a 14-year term. She didn’t show her hand until after the election was called, putting potential rivals at a disadvantage.
Fine Gael didn’t want to run a candidate against someone they considered unbeatable, and rather than risk scarce resources the Labour party took the same line.
BUT the problem is that the more a President of Michael D Higgins’s stature raises the bar about what we can expect from our head of State, the more undignified they appear when they behave like common politicians. The Presidency was belittled when Mary Robinson scarpered off early to the UN and when Mary McAleese, and now it appears Michael D, resorted to political manoeuvres in pursuit of an uncontested second stint at the Áras.
The attitude stinks of entitlement and a determination to serve themselves, rather than the public interest, which is for an open, democratic contest rather than a coronation.
Presidential elections can be peculiarly vicious affairs: candidates can be mercilessly picked apart and sometimes deservedly so as too often they are below par in terms of suitability.
Yet it is better that throwbacks like Dana, or the unsuited like Gallagher, put their hat into the ring than it be stitched up and the term becomes a de facto 14 years rather than seven. Next year’s contenders may include Miriam O’Callaghan, who refuses to rule herself out.
Who knows, Michael O’Leary may even join the fray if Ryanair’s troubles go from bad to worse.
Hopefully a hotchpotch of no-hopers, charlatans and genuinely reputable figures will apply. As well as Higgins, so long as he gives us fair notice.
The Presidency is the top public office in the life of our nation. It can’t be treated like a luxury fivestar hotel where the residents are so pampered that they
never want to leave.