Irish Presidential race: Let’s be honest

It could be argued that Gerard Craughwell — one of the potential candidates for the presidency — has dented, if not wrecked, his prospects before the starting gun has been fired by describing the post as a largely “meet and greet job” that has no impact on the everyday lives we lead beyond and far away from the Palladian walls of the Áras an Uachtaráin.

That will be the reaction of professional politicians whose DNA hardwires them to big-up the posts to which they seek to be elected. But there is an alternative view: Mr Craughwell’s refreshingly realistic summary of an Irish president’s job description will in no way harm his chances. As uncomfortable as it clearly is for party some candidates, — and independents who might see the election as an ego-boosting opportunity — the senator is right. Just a fleeting look at the Constitution ought to clear up any doubt about the role’s political insignificance. That is not a constitutional problem that needs fixing. It is what the founders of the republic, rightly so, intended.

It is, chiefly, a ceremonial and figurehead role: Representing the nation at home and abroad, welcoming official guests from overseas, flying the flag for trade and culture, signing legislation approved by the Dáil and the Seanad, convening and dissolving the Dáil as and when advised by the Taoiseach, and encouraging charitable causes. There is scarcely anything he or she can do, including leaving the country, without the Government’s permission. It is a head of state model seen in many other parliamentary democracies, among them the UK, Spain, Israel, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria and Germany.

The German example is one government bean counters looking for justifiable cuts in state spending should look at closely. The annual salary paid to Germany’s head of state — the meeter-and-greeter-in-chief in a country with a population north of 80m — is a mere €213,000. Our current president’s remuneration is — wait for it — €250,000. A candidate who is not only honest about the role but also prepared to accept at least half of the going rate can be assured of a fair hearing.