Higgins was born on 18 April 1941 in Limerick.[6] His father, John Higgins, was from Ballycar, County Clare, and was a lieutenant with the Charleville Company, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Cork Brigade of the Irish Republican Army. John, along with his two brothers Peter and Michael, had been active participants in the Irish War of Independence.[7][8]
When John's father's health grew poor, with alcohol abuse as a contributing factor, John sent Michael, aged five, and his four-year-old brother to live on his unmarried uncle and aunt's farm near Newmarket-on-Fergus, County Clare. His elder twin sisters remained in Limerick.[9] He was educated at Ballycar National School, County Clare and St. Flannan's College, Ennis.[10]
In his academic career, he was a statutory lecturer in the Department of Political Science and Sociology at UCG[13] and was a visiting professor at Southern Illinois University.[14][15] He resigned his academic posts to concentrate fully on his political career.[16]
Higgins met Coyne in 1969, at a party in the family home of journalist Mary Kenny in Dublin.[22][23][24] Higgins proposed over Christmas 1973, and they were married the year after. They have four children: Alice Mary, Daniel, and twins, John and Michael Jr.; Alice Mary was elected to Seanad Éireann in 2016.[23][25] He had two Bernese Mountain Dogs named Bród and Síoda (Pride and Silk);[26] Síoda died in 2020.[27]
Higgins returned to the Dáil at the 1987 general election and held his seat until the 2011 general election.[29] In 1993, he joined the Cabinet as Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht. During his period as minister he scrapped the controversial Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act, re-established the Irish Film Board and set up the Irish language television station, Teilifís na Gaeilge (later renamed TG4).[31] He was appointed to the Labour Party front bench in 2000. In 2003, Higgins succeeded Proinsias De Rossa in the symbolic position of the President of the Labour Party, while continuing as the party's spokesman on foreign affairs.[citation needed]
Higgins indicated his interest in contesting the 2004 presidential election for the Labour Party. The party decided on 16 September 2004 against running a candidate in the election, seeing Mary McAleese as unbeatable.[13]
In October 2010, he announced he would not be standing at the 2011 general election.[32] He had until this point been living in a modest two-bed apartment at Grattan Hall on Mount Street, Dublin. He also has a family home in Galway.[33]
Higgins and Ivana Bacik campaigning during the 2011 presidential race
In September 2010, Higgins indicated that he was interested in receiving the Labour Party's nomination for the 2011 presidential election.[34] He said prior to the election campaign, and repeated during it, that he would serve only one seven-year term as president, and would not seek a second term of office, despite being entitled to do so.[35][36]
He was selected as a candidate for the presidency at a special convention in Dublin on 19 June 2011, beating former senator Kathleen O'Meara and former party adviser Fergus Finlay.[37][38] His candidacy was endorsed by Hollywood actor Martin Sheen, who described Higgins as a "dear friend".[39] Higgins assisted his rival David Norris by urging his party colleagues on Dublin City Council not to obstruct Norris's attempts to get onto the ballot at the last moment "in the interests of democracy", adding that the nomination criteria were "outdated".[40][41]
Higgins was confronted by former Tara mines workers while canvassing in Meath. The workers were upset about their pensions being cut.[42] Higgins was also pursued by his past links to the Fianna Fáil party, and admitted on 13 October that he had been elected chairman of the UCG Fianna Fáil university cumann in 1966.[43] While at university in the United States he had, he admitted that he smoked marijuana.[43] However, media reports said he was "spared the intense grilling Miriam O'Callaghan meted out to some of the others" during the Prime Time debate.[44] Higgins promised he would be a neutral president if elected and not be a "handmaiden" to the government.[45] The Labour Party's budget for the campaign was within €320,000.[46]
On 29 October 2011, two days after the presidential election was held, Higgins was declared the winner with a total of 1,007,104 votes, far more than any Irish politician in the history of the republic.[47][48] Thousands of people lined the streets of Galway to welcome him home the following day.[49][50][51] International media coverage of his win reported his humble background, poetry and intellect,[52] with The Washington Post noting "local satirists sometimes depict him as an elf, hobbit or leprechaun talking in riddles and verse".[53] He is the first president of Ireland to have served in both Houses of the Oireachtas, having previously been a member of Dáil Éireann (Lower House) and Seanad Éireann (Upper House).[54]
Before his inauguration, Higgins and his family met his predecessor Mary McAleese and her husband Martin for lunch at Áras an Uachtaráin on 3 November.[55] That night, he presented an award to Niall Tóibín, and received his own standing ovation as he entered the Irish Film Institute.[56] On 5 November, he attended an important football game, featuring Galway United versus Monaghan United in the second leg in the League of Ireland promotion/relegation play-off at Terryland Park, wrapped in the scarf of his favourite team, and being greeted by a large banner hanging from a stand declaring "Welcome home to Galway, Mr President".[57][58][59][60]
Higgins travelled to Derry to attend the final of the All-Ireland school choir of the year competition on 13 November 2011, for his first official presidential engagement in Northern Ireland.[66][67][68] In December 2011, he hosted a children's tea party at Áras an Uachtaráin.[69] He attended the Bon Secours Hospital in Galway on 13 December for surgery on the kneecap that was broken in a fall during a visit to Buenaventura, Colombia in 2010.[70]
Higgins made his first official trip abroad when he went to London on 21 February 2012.[71] While there he was given a tour of the Olympic Stadium by Sebastian Coe, and attended a production of Juno and the Paycock at the Lyttelton Theatre.[72][73] He made his first official visit to his alma mater NUI Galway on 24 February, where he opened an autism centre.[74] On 21 March 2012, Higgins was announced as sole patron of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra.[75] Addressing a conference organised by youth organisation Foróige on 24 March 2012, Higgins described homophobia and racism in Ireland as a "blight on society".[76]
Higgins received the Order of Clans of Ireland in April 2012. Also pictured are Sabina Higgins (left) and Dr. Michael J. Egan, Chairman of Clans of Ireland (right)
Special advisor to the president, Mary van Lieshout, who formed part of the management team in Áras an Uachtaráin under Secretary General Adrian O'Neill, resigned in November 2013. The departure raised criticism over presidential management of the team.[84] The presidential Christmas messages delivered by Higgins from 2011 to 2013 did not mention Christianity or religion, which was criticised by the Defence Forces' chaplain in a homily on Christmas Eve 2013.[85] The Chief of Staff expressed regret for any offence caused by the chaplain.[85]
In November 2016, Higgins received criticism from some sections of the Irish media for praising Fidel Castro, saying in a statement that he learned of Castro's death with "great sadness".[89]
On 10 July 2018, Higgins announced that he would stand for a second term as president in the 2018 Irish presidential election.[90] Higgins won the 2018 presidential election with 56% of the vote on the first count (822,566).[91] His nearest rival, Peter Casey, finished on 23% (342,727).[92]
On 11 November 2018, Higgins was inaugurated as president of Ireland in St. Patrick's Hall, Dublin Castle, in a ceremony attended by TaoiseachLeo Varadkar, and former presidents Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese, as well as representatives of all political parties. The ceremony was held in the evening, so that Higgins could attend Armistice Day commemorations in the morning.[93]
In July 2021, Higgins sent a letter to the Oireachtas expressing concern that there had been a tendency in recent years for him to be sent a large volume of complex legislation to be signed in a short period.[95]
On 15 September 2021, Higgins declined an invitation to attend a church service with Britain's Queen Elizabeth in October to mark Northern Ireland's centenary.[96] Two days later on 17 September, Higgins defended his decision not to attend the service and decided it would be "inappropriate to attend".[97]Pope Francis described Higgins as a "wise man of today" during an audience in the Vatican.[98]
On 4 March 2022, Higgins and his wife Sabina tested positive for COVID-19.[99]
As well as having a successful political career Higgins has had a career as a poet and broadcaster and has produced works of non-fiction.[109][110] He has contributed widely to political and philosophical journals on numerous subjects, among them ideology, the sociology of literature, clientelism in politics,[111] regionalism and the politics of the media. He wrote and presented a television film on Montserrat, entitled The Other Emerald Isle for Channel 4 and his documentary on the life of Noel Browne, for RTÉ, has also been screened.[112]
Higgins has had poems published in a number of periodicals, as well as publishing four collections of his poetry, including The Betrayal (1990), his second book of poems The Season of Fire (1993) and his latest book An Arid Season (2004).[113] His personal notes and work books reside at the National Library of Ireland.[114]
On 27 October 2016, Higgins visited Linen Hall Library for the first. Being a poet himself, he was particularly interested in resources pertaining to local poet Sir Samuel Ferguson.[115]
Among Higgins' poems are "The death of the Red Cow" and "The Ass", an ode to a donkey.[116]
Higgins has campaigned for human rights and written of conflict in many parts of the world, including such areas as Nicaragua, Chile, Cambodia, El Salvador, Iraq and Somalia.[122] He spoke in the Dáil in defence of the 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla.[123] In recognition of his work for peace with justice in many parts of the world, he became the first recipient of the Seán MacBride Peace Prize of the International Peace Bureau in Helsinki in 1992.[124] He was a noted critic of U.S. foreign policy under the Ronald Reagan administration. In 2005, in response to a column for the Irish Independent by Kevin Myers about the riots then erupting across immigrant areas in France and Britain, he said "the contents of his column today go beyond his usually crafted cowardice, staying one step on the safe side of prosecution for incitement to hatred or racism."[125]
He is the subject of the song "Michael D. Rocking in the Dáil" by popular Tuam band The Saw Doctors. The song first appeared as a B-side on the 1994 single "Small Bit of Love" and is also on the 2002 compilation Play It Again, Sham!.[131]
^"Irish President meets University President". University of Manchester. 23 November 2012. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015. President Higgins first arrived in Manchester in 1968 and spent much of his time attending lectures and seminars in the Dover Street Building.
^ ab"Michael D. Higgins". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 2 December 2010. Retrieved 19 September 2009.
^"Defeated TDs claim pro-abortion smear". The Irish Times. 26 November 1982. Retrieved 1 August 2016. Mr Higgins declared that the notion had been propounded throughout the campaign that he had become too radical and was in favour of abortion
^O'Leary, Jennifer (28 October 2011). "Who is Michael D Higgins?". BBC News. Archived from the original on 29 June 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
^Higgins, Michael D (1982). The Limit of Clientelism. C. Clapman, Private Patronage and Public Power. London: Frances Pinter. ISBN0312647174. OCLC874469771.
^Assembly, Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly. "Supporters". Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly. Archived from the original on 24 January 2018. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
