President ‘entitled’ to make Castro comments

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has attempted to prevent a damaging row between the Government and Michael D Higgins by saying the head of state has every right to make supportive comments about Fidel Castro.

The Fine Gael leader sought to end the controversy as Mr Higgins and hundreds of Irish citizens signed a book of condolences for the Cuban revolutionary in Dublin at the same time as a senior government minister described Castro as an “unelected dictator”.

Speaking at the Vatican days after Mr Higgins controversially focussed on Cuba’s social progress instead of human rights abuses in his statement on Mr Castro’s death, Mr Kenny said Mr Higgins is “entitled” to make his views clear on the high-profile figure’s legacy.

He told reporters that “Minister for Foreign Affairs [Charlie Flanagan] pointed out quite correctly that the President is entitled to make his comments” and there is no issue with this position.

However, despite the diplomatic remarks, the disagreement continued yesterday with one senior Government minister saying describing Mr Castro as an “unelected dictator” and opposition TDs staunchly defending Mr Higgins views.

Speaking at an event in Dublin, Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar said there was a “long standing tradition” of the Government and President not criticising each other’s actions as the presidential office is “above politics”.

However, he added that if he had been asked to respond to Mr Castro’s death at the weekend he would have been more “nuanced” than Mr Higgins and while Cuba has witnessed social progression the revolutionary was an “unelected dictator”.

“What I would say is that when it comes to Castro the Government, and certainly me as an individual, would take more of a nuanced view on Castro’s legacy.

“He stood up to American aggression and certainly made some changes to his country which were significant in relation to access to education and healthcare, but he was an unelected dictator. No one in Cuba voted for him. He handed over power to his brother, executed and imprisoned his opponents, and even put people in mental institutions for disagreeing with him. So it’s a mixed legacy at best.”

Mr Higgins’s remarks were supported by Skills Minister John Halligan and Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams yesterday, with both saying the President was right to express his opinion.

However, he continued to be criticised by Independent Senator Ronan Mullen, Fine Gael TD Ciaran Cannon, and others over the remarks.

Asked to respond to claims from Mr Mullen that Mr Higgins had ignored human rights abuses in Cuba in his statement, Mr Adams — who travelled to Cuba yesterday — said opponents had “some cheek” to make the remark.

“His record on human rights is second to none, and for anybody to suggest that he wouldn’t raise those issues is a downright lie,” said Mr Adams.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Irish citizens signed two books of condolences for Mr Castro at the Mansion House and the Cuban embassy in Dublin yesterday. They were joined by Mr Higgins, who was the first to sign the document at the embassy on Pearse St, writing: “On behalf of the people of Ireland to express their sympathy to the people of Cuba on the passing of former head of state Fidel Castro Ruz. Con la simpatico de la gente [with the sympathy of the people].”

The Government will be represented at Castro’s funeral this week by Ireland’s non-resident ambassador to Cuba, Sonja Hyland, who is based in the Irish embassy in Mexico.

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