Walk this way: President struts to his own beat on Grafton Street

“Who was that?” The question was posed by Brazilian busker Franklin Martins as President Michael D Higgins, his wife Sabina, and the vast media scrum surrounding him moved away.

At the top of Dublin’s Grafton St, during a rare walkabout, Sabina, under the gaze of reporters and photographers, made sure to drop a few euro into Franklin’s guitar case.

He and the President had shared a few words, even if Franklin had no clue what all the fuss was about.

The chaos of the occasion was absorbing as the incumbent made his way slowly down Dublin’s most famous shopping street.

Young mothers such as Rosey Valentine, with six-week-old Lilly, got the chance to have their picture taken with the first couple.

“She’d be voting for him,” said Rosey as several reporters gushed over her little bundle.

Newly returned travellers such as Stephen Dunne from Dublin, who had just stepped off a plane from Amsterdam, was cock-a-hoop with himself.

“I met Miggeldy! Mad when the second person you talk to after getting off the plane is the President of Ireland!!,” he said on Twitter a short time later.

The President’s handlers and security detail appeared relaxed, taking turns to assume photographic duties for those selfie-mad punters.

Leon Gibbons aged 10 poses for pic with @MichaelDHiggins during cavass walkabout on Grafton Street #iestaff pic.twitter.com/Kaqtt2luNP

— Daniel McConnell (@McConnellDaniel) October 2, 2018

The popularity of the President was palpable with members of the public, young and old, knocking each other out of the way to get to shake the hand and have a picture taken.

The assembled media were also keen to ask the President a few questions, as such interactions are severely limited in normal circumstances.

Standing in the shadow of Phil Lynott’s statue across from McDaid’s pub, Higgins stood to address his inquisitors.

He confirmed he will take part in three broadcast debates involving presidential candidates between now and polling day on October 26.

The debates will be with Cormac Ó hEadhra on RTÉ Radio 1 on Saturday, October 13; a TV debate with presenter Pat Kenny on Virgin Media 1 on Wednesday, October 17; and an RTÉ Prime Time debate on Tuesday, October 23.

So no room for a debate on Claire Byrne’s show, it appears.

Becoming agitated at one point, Higgins described as “outrageous” the weekend media reports that he used part of a €317,000 allowance to “top up” the pay of a special adviser.

He described the charge, contained in a Sunday newspaper, as “slanderous” and hurtful to the individual involved, who is not able to defend himself.

Despite deploying strong language, Higgins ruled out any possibility of him taking legal action.

The President stressed that the allowance was spent only for appropriate purposes.

These are primarily the hosting of events in Áras an Uachtaráin.

Interestingly, his commitment to make a formal statement about the allowance and how it is spent before the end of the campaign was rowed back on.

He said it would now be unlikely that such a statement would appear before the end of the campaign.

Any unspent monies from this allowance would return to the exchequer at the end of his seven-year term and not at the end of 14 years if re-elected, he said.