PRESIDENT

Michael D Higgins first tried huff, puff and bluster. Faced with the entirely reasonable demand on Sunday that he should reveal what exactly has been done with the €317,000 made available to his office each year for the past seven, he went on the attack. On Tuesday, he described the whole thing as outrageous.

He also tried deflection by misrepresentation. He decried ‘one comment that I had used it (the money) to top up an employee’s salary’. Truth is, nobody ever said that.

Realising that his position was growing more and more untenable, he shifted again. Yes, he would give precise details of where the money went. There would be a ‘full return on every euro’. But – such public accounting would only come in November, weeks after the Presidential election, weeks after the horse had well and truly bolted. Then on Thursday, obviously with the benefit of calm reflection, the President was much more forthcoming. Now he said that €280,000 of the annual allocation had been spent on wining, dining and greeting guests at the Áras. In fact, he expected to be able to hand back about €200,000 from the €2.2m he’d received since 2011.

The problem is, if Michael D knows that the vast bulk of the money went on hospitality, and that a significant amount will be handed back, then it’s perfectly clear that the details must be at his fingertips.

Clearly, it’s all there, line by line on some spreadsheet. So much spent on the hockey heroes, so much on hurlers and footballers, so much on…

All this pulling and dragging, reluctance and undeserved outrage reflects badly on Michael D as he interviews for another seven-year contract as our head of state.

At this stage, Michael D would be well advised to call in a trusted and efficent assistant and declare: ‘Print that spreadsheet and publish it, and let my people know how wisely I spent their taxes.’