Don’t forget vital role of Ireland in Europe

When President Higgins addressed the European Parliament recently he expressed recurring concern that the founding values of the European Union are being threatened and disregarded.

He reasserted the sentiment of Jacques Delors, who on the 20th anniversary of German reunification, opined that Europe needs a secular soul, a deficit which Delors attributed inter alia to a lack of interest by national governments.

President Higgins also cited in his address the “singular example” of three obscure European dissident thinkers as being a seminal influence on the intellectual heritage of Europe. He offered no insight as to how Ireland, or Irish genius, contributes to the vitality of contemporary Europe or whether Ireland has been the author of any initiative whatsoever that could be deemed mission-critical to the vision of the founders of the EU, a catalyst to the formation of its soul, or its humanity.