President Higgins strikes a vocal chord on West Cork visit

As President Michael D Higgins continued his West Cork visit yesterday, one thought struck you: This might be the best spoken-word tour the county has seen for many a year.

Maybe it was sparked by that photograph that did the rounds on social media recently of the President, opened-shirted and beaming, at Slane in 1985, but the sense of occasion around him seems to be growing.

The people came out in their droves to see him and his wife, Sabina, as they officially opened a gaelscoil in Clonakilty, the West Cork Arts Centre in Skibbereen, and, on the other side of town, the redeveloped O’Donovan Rossa Memorial Park.