President’s comments - Criticism of austerity is warranted

Despite the largely ceremonial nature of his office, President Michael D Higgins — intellectual, academic, poet and former politician — is not one for sitting on the fence, especially if he believes the Irish people and the citizens of other small nations are being subjected to policies of economic domination by major powers.

Effectively, by referring in a Financial Times interview to the EU’s “hegemonic” economic model, Mr Higgins has targeted a failed strategy of central control. It is not his first time voicing strong criticism of Europe. In a recent address to the European Parliament, he condemned the policy of austerity, a censure greeted by the positive applause of its members.

Not mincing his words, he has now returned to that theme, pointing out that the EU is going through a moral crisis as much as an economic one. Going even further, he underlined the need for a “radical rethink” of how EU leaders are handling the economic crisis, something that goes to the heart of the troubles confronting a club of nations where tens of millions of people are now unemployed.

Given the delicate nature of his presidential role, it remains to be seen if he will be summoned by Taoiseach Enda Kenny and reprimanded for sentiments that leave him open to the charge of trespassing into the realm of politics. A rebuke may well be on the cards because, by any yardstick, his views are in marked contrast with the generally timid response of the Coalition towards the policies of domination which he has clearly identified. In so doing, he has hit the nail squarely on the head.

As witnessed in the case of former president Mary Robinson’s comments during the divorce referendum, when the people elect presidents of stature there is every risk that boundaries will be crossed. By speaking his mind, Mr Higgins will be accused of embarrassing a government which continues to espouse the policies of austerity; policies now rejected by a former member of the IMF.

From the individual citizen to the nation as an entity, there is no escaping the repressive nature of grinding austerity. It is causing families to lose hope while at the same time failing to create the growth vital for Ireland’s recovery but unlikely to happen without economic stimulation. A catch-22 scenario.

The President also referred to the vexed issue of an unequivocal EU commitment that the link between bank and sovereign debt would be broken, a pledge clearly given to Ireland but since reneged upon, leaving the Republic saddled with an impossible debt burden.

When it comes to a question of European attitudes to Ireland, this Government likes nothing more than to receive the ‘best boy in class’ commendation, particularly when the plaudits come from Germany’s Angela Merkel. Yet Mr Higgins can also be assured that in the eyes of the struggling people of an impoverished Ireland where the plague of austerity is now endemic, his courageous criticism of oppressive European policies, his call for reform of the ECB, and his warning of the risk of social upheaval and loss of popular legitimacy are timely and entirely warranted.