Irish Examiner view: President Michael D Higgins is not shying away from controversy

Taoiseach and Tánaiste were quick to defend the President after he was criticised by the Israeli embassy. But his comments on homelessness and housing will win less support from the Government

President Michael D Higgins speaking at the United Nations General Assembly during the Summit of the Future on Sunday. Picture: Frank Franklin II/AP

The controversy over President Michael D Higgins’ letter to Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian continued this week in New York, where the president addressed the United Nations Summit of the Future last Sunday.

The letter addressed to Mr Pezeshkian was sharply criticised by the Israeli embassy in Ireland when it was published in the Jewish Chronicle. Mr Higgins said he believed his letter had been circulated by the Israeli embassy, saying: “You should ask where the criticism came from and how the letter was circulated and by whom and for what purpose.”

The matter is now the subject of a fact-finding exercise by An Garda Síochána.

When commenting, the President stressed that he had used the word “circulated” rather than “leaked”. 

In international diplomacy, accuracy in phraseology is always paramount, and “circulated” does not carry the negative connotations of “leaked”.

However, Mr Higgins’ comments, as quoted above, clearly invited listeners to draw their own conclusions about Israel’s motivations in this matter.

The behaviour of Israel in Gaza — and latterly in Lebanon — has undermined its credibility when it offers critiques of other countries’ behaviour, as has happened here. It is also worth pointing out that Ireland was not the only EU country to issue a pro forma letter of congratulations to the president of Iran.

However, the wider context of Mr Higgins’s comments about Israel involves domestic rather than foreign considerations. This is far from the first time the President has engaged directly in political matters.

Earlier this week, for instance, he flatly contradicted Taoiseach Simon Harris’s callous observations on the supposed impact immigration is having on homelessness figures. He was also critical of the planning system in local authorities when it comes to providing houses.

This is straying from the President’s constitutional role, but both Mr Harris and Tánaiste Micheal Martin were quick to defend him, or at the very least were not inclined to row back on his comments regarding the Israeli embassy.

His comments on homelessness and housing, however, will have been met with less support in the corridors of power.

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National Children’s Hospital

The ongoing saga of the National Children’s Hospital (NCH) entered a new chapter in recent days, or perhaps two new chapters.

First we had the now-infamous letter from Health Minister Stephen Donnelly to Cabinet colleagues in which he alleged that the approach of the project’s main contractor, Bam, “is based on extracting as much money from the Irish taxpayer as possible”. Predictably, Bam hit back by denying the charge and describing the minister’s suggestions as “misleading, ill-informed, and incorrect”.

Now there is a report from consultants KPMG which paints a depressing picture of the entire project. The report, commissioned by the HSE, details a variety of challenges such as the focus of staff at the three hospitals — Temple Street, Crumlin, and Tallaght — whose children’s services are to be consolidated into the NCH. Those staff are concentrating, understandably, on day-to-day work rather than the challenges associated with the new hospital.

The report found uncertainty about the opening date for the new facility is not helping preparations, nor is the absence of a single permanent leadership figure — as opposed to the current situation, in which an acting CEO must combine work on the new hospital with pre-existing responsibilities.

The KPMG report goes so far as to express uncertainty about the number of staff needed at the hospital because of new buildings and new working methods. This is a startling revelation to encounter this deep in the process.

Mr Donnelly’s comments about Bam wishing to extract as much money from the taxpayer as possible have struck a chord with many people — from those in Cork waiting years for progress on the long-awaited event centre to the population as a whole.

The comments resonate because they are a plausible explanation for the financial carelessness visible in such cases, with vast sums spent without apparent oversight. That is not to excuse those in power: The question raised by KPMG in this report about a CEO could be used generally when it comes to public expenditure. Taoiseach Simon Harris signed off on the initial contract. The health minister has been in the role for more than years. Who is in charge?

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Patrick Nugent

The remains of Patrick Nugent, who died in unexplained circumstances in 1984 at Bunratty Folk Park in Clare, have been exhumed in a renewed garda investigation into his death.

It is a vindication of the work of Mr Nugent’s family, who have pursued this case over the last 40 years. The family’s solicitors pointed out that, in that time, they have “been through a criminal trial; the outworkings of a gardaí disciplinary process; an inquest; a section 42 gardaí inquiry following a miscarriage of justice investigation . . . together with a renewed criminal investigation after the Attorney General reviewed the findings of District Judge Patrick Clyne”.

Now forensic experts will carry out tests which it is hoped may yield fresh leads for gardaí to investigate.

Unfortunately, there are other unresolved cases going back through our history. The progress of forensic science in particular in recent years offers fresh hope to families such as the Nugents, who may yet find answers to questions that they have been asking for many years.