Taoiseach: Higgins 'a noble man of quiet virtue'

Michael D Higgins' presidency will embrace the idea of what it really means to be Irish, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said today.

Mr Kenny, who led tributes at the inauguration, said Mr Higgins was the man best suited to mark a series of hugely significant historical events over the next seven years.

Ireland will next year mark the foundation of the Labour Party before commemorating the 1913 workers' lock-out, the 1916 Rising and the First World War and Battle of the Somme.

The Taoiseach told invited guests and dignitaries at Dublin Castle that Mr Higgins would be a president for all the people.

"President Higgins is eminently suited to oversee the commemoration of these events and their legacy. And as he takes office, he holds not just our hearts but our hopes. And our dreams," the Taoiseach said.

"Indeed, a particular dream that saw our people reject a particular idea of wealth, the caislean gortach, the famished castle with its cardboard crenellations.

"To embrace instead the idea, the possibility of comhluadar, a modern meitheal. Our building of that 'real republic', real community, of what it is and what it means to be Irish."

"A republic and its people defined not by greed or power or wealth."

"But by the quieter, deeper more authentic elements: of respect virtue of love and duty to our country and to each other as together we take on the difficult task of national recovery national renewal."

The Taoiseach praised Mr Higgins' years of public service and said he has lived up to the saying: "Ni uaisleacht gan subhailce. There is no nobility without virtue."

"Michael D Higgins is indeed a noble man of quiet virtue who will bring that nobility of heart and mind and spirit to the office of the president to all his endeavours in the name of Ireland and the Irish people," Mr Kenny said.

"His authenticity as poet, philosopher, patriot and politician. As a democrat, republican, husband, father will resonate across this country and around the world.

"A real republican. At the head of his greatly-desired 'real republic'."

The Taoiseach said he expects Mr Higgins to be a powerful healer for Ireland with a mandate of more than one million votes and the warm wishes of 70 million members of the Irish diaspora.

Mr Kenny also paid tribute to former president Mary McAleese and said she brought warmth, dignity and grace to the and to the people.