Higgins comments crossed the line

Gerard Howlin says Michael D Higgins’s comments on the Savita Halappanavar case were inappropriate for his office

ON Wednesday in Liverpool, President Michael D Higgins waded into the live controversy over the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar. Speaking off the cuff, he said: “My wish, frankly, is that there be some form of investigation which meets the needs of the concerned public and meets the needs of the family and meets the need of the state.” He concluded his remarks about the death of Savita Halappanavar by saying he hoped that “particularly above all else, out of it women will be safer and get the medical services to which any woman is entitled in any part of the world”.

Those views may be widely held but they are also highly political. Crucially, they risk diminishing confidence, among all citizens in the president’s capacity to exercise his constitutional responsibilities impartially. They broke the appropriate boundaries of his high office.