Paul Hosford: How do you solve a problem like Michael D?

Robust comments on housing crisis poses a unique challenge for the Government

President Michael D Higgins made an impassioned speech regarding housing in Ireland at an opening ceremony at Jigginstown Manor, a Tiglin facility for vulnerable young adults in Naas, Co Kildare. Picture: Colin Keegan/Collins Dublin

THE President’s robust comments on the housing crisis earlier this week pose a unique challenge for the Government.

Speaking at the opening of Tiglin’s transitional housing service at Jigginstown Manor in Kildare on Tuesday, Michael D Higgins slammed the country’s failure on housing and, while he didn’t openly point the finger at the current Government, the broadside was taken as a criticism of at least 10 years of housing policy over which members of this Government had watch.

“It’s a real challenge,” he said. “I have taken to speaking ever more frankly in relation to housing because I think it is our great, great, great failure.

It isn’t a crisis any more, it’s a disaster. 

“We have to really think about meeting the basic needs of people in a republic, be that food, shelter and education... Building homes is what’s important. It’s not to be a star performer for the speculative sector internationally or anything else.”

The reaction varied from outright support, to quiet condemnation, questions about the scope of the role of President, and even questions about the constitutionality of Mr Higgins’s comments.

While ministers vented their fury anonymously, the Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar sought to steer away from any notion of a schism between the Executive and the head of state.

President Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach  Michael Martin at the Arbour Hill Commemoration Ceremony in May. Mr Martin said it is 'not appropriate' for him to 'engage in any debate with the President'. Picture: Colin Keegan/Collins Dublin

Speaking at UCC, the Taoiseach said: “It is not appropriate for me to engage in any debate with the President nor do I intend to do so. I am not going into a debate with the President.”

However, Mr Varadkar went a step further when he told Newstalk that was some merit in the President’s comments: “You know, a couple, both of whom have decent jobs, are unable to afford a home — and that wasn’t the case for most of our history.

"To me, that’s a social disaster that people who are working hard and have decent incomes can’t afford to buy a home."

The issue didn’t come up in much detail at Wednesday’s parliamentary party meetings, save for Fianna Fail’s Barry Cowen and John McGuinness saying that Mr Higgins was merely giving voice to public sentiment. But, behind closed doors, some TDs were furious.

“He can always run for the Dáil if he wants to help us out,” said one backbencher, while another wondered if Mr Higgins would be so vocal if Labour was in Government.

But while the Government has tried to steer away from the controversy, Mr Higgins has landed them with a unique problem for a number of reasons.

The first being that his comments, while certainly robust, were not unmoored from public opinion or in any way easy to disagree with.

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

Housing is one of the key issues of our time and with rising costs and interest rates set to climb, many will feel the pinch more acutely in the coming months.

Leo Varadkar spoke on Newstalk, saying there was merit to Mr Higgins's speech. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos

The Government, to its credit, understands this and has deployed major resources to its Housing For All plan in a bid to fix decades of dysfunction. But there is also an awareness that this may either take time or be subject to outside forces. A report just last from the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) said the increase of new homes has eased the growth of house prices but it could be offset by the rise in construction materials.

Taking the Tánaiste’s example alone, it is clear that Mr Higgins’ take on the housing market is not just that of an ideologue, but of someone who is aware of the scale of the housing problem.

Across Ireland, young professionals are living in box rooms in their parents’ homes, rents are eating into the disposable and indispensable incomes of families, and 10,000 people are in some form of emergency accommodation.

There is little to be gained for ministers to face down the President. Picture: Colin Keegan/Collins Dublin

That the President felt free to put such a strong label on the situation speaks largely to how self-evident and endemic a problem it has become. It is not as if the President waded into a controversial difference of opinions or a policy debate.

But, for the Government, the President also has the luxury of not having to proffer an alternative or a solution and so it is not in a position to debate the issue — publicly, at least.

Secondly, there is the issue of how popular Mr Higgins is. Re-elected in a six-person field in 2018 with 55% of the vote, Mr Higgins is held in a kind of warm regard rarely seen in Irish political life. Miggeldy, as he has been known online since a child’s quiz answer went viral, has been frequently compared to other world leaders, with Irish people generally expressing pride in his representation of the nation.

There is little to be gained for ministers to face down the popular head of state, but there is also a question from some TDs about how forthright a defence they are
entitled to put forward if the President continues to speak his mind on this or other matters.

But that popularity comes with people knowing exactly who Mr Higgins was when he was first elected in 2011 and in 2018. There will be many who heard his comments this week and wondered about the purview of the office, but there will be as many who think that this is exactly the man for whom they cast their ballots.

The third and final issue, as expressed by a number of TDs, is that Mr Higgins holds the biggest trump card in politics — not needing to worry about re-election. 

With his second term lining up with the lifetime of this Government — all going to plan — Mr Higgins may feel emboldened to continue to speak his mind, which would surely create an issue for the Government. How would the Taoiseach or his Cabinet react if, for example, Mr Higgins were to criticise an upcoming piece of legislation or a Budget decision?

President Michael D Higgins receiving the Tundish Award from actor Stephen Rae at a ceremony at Áras an Uachtaráin on Thursday. Picture:  Maxwell's

With three years to go and a real recognition of the issues facing the country, there is likely to be a renewed focus on the public utterances of the President. While some have pushed him to make his point more subtly, he is unlikely to send messages through fashion choices in the way some people on the internet are convinced that Queen Elizabeth does. 

Remember that a clip of Mr Higgins calling an American commentator a “wanker” is still very popular online.

It is also important to remember that Mr Higgins was himself under scrutiny last week after a Nigerian bishop criticised his statement of condolence after a terror attack in the country. The President had said that the shooting dead of 40 parishioners in a church in Ondo State was in part attributable to “neglect of food security issues in Africa”.

Bishop of Ondo, Jude Ayodeji Arogundade, said that statement was “incorrect and far-fetched”. Some have questioned whether his domestic intervention was an attempt to deflect this controversy.

The next time the President is in public, expect focus on the tone and tenor of his comments. From the public and the Government.