A Chairde,
Today, we inaugurate the ninth President of Ireland.
Uachtarán na hÉireann..... Michael Daniel Higgins.
Through his long years in the service of our people...... in the name of democracy.....for the good our country....... he has given truth to the Irish saying.....
Ní uaisleacht gan subhailce.
There is no nobility without virtue.
Michael D Higgins is... indeed..... a noble man... of quiet virtue....
Who will bring that nobility of heart and mind and spirit..... to the office of the President..... to all his endeavours..... in the name of Ireland..... and the Irish people.
His authenticity…as poet, philosopher, patriot…and policitian..
As a democrat.... republican....... husband.....father.....
Will resonate.....across this country..... and around the world.......
A real Republican......at the head of his greatly-desired..... ‘real Republic’...
By his own declaration, Michael D Higgins will be a President of healing and transformation.
And if it’s true what they say.....that a wound heals from the margins in....then our new President will be a powerful healer.
Because he has fought for the marginalised.....supported the marginalised..... been the voice of the marginalised.....throughout his public life....
And today... he is the Centre.....he is our President ......with a powerful mandate of over a million people throughout this island.
With the warm good wishes of 70 million members of our Diaspora.... throughout the world.
Indeed a ‘President for all the people’.
During his tenure....Ireland will mark the centenary of various versions of what and who we have been....
The Lock-Out..... the Easter Rising..... the First World War...... the Battle of the Somme.......
President Higgins is eminently suited to oversee the commemoration of these events and their legacy.
And as he takes Office, he holds not just our hearts..... ..but our hopes.
And our dreams.
Indeed, a particular dream.... that saw our people reject a particular idea of wealth.....the caisleán gortach........the famished castle.....with its cardboard crenellations..
To embrace instead the idea, the possibility of....comhluadar......
A modern meitheal.....
Our building of that ‘real republic’..... real community......of what it is... and what it means to be Irish.
A Republic and its people....defined not by greed.....or power.......or wealth ....
But by the quieter, deeper.... more authentic elements:
Of….respect..... virtue......of love and duty to our country..... and to each other..... as together we take on the difficult task....... of national recovery.... national renewal.
It would be remiss of me if I were not to recognise the outstanding and extraordinary contribution of President Mary McAleese… a President who brought such warmth, dignity and grace to that Office...and to the People.
I know she will join with me in wishing the ninth President of Ireland the best… as he, in his way, further deepens the appreciation of the Uachtarántacht.
Today... the Áras will have a new family. Michael D, Sabina, Alice Mary, Michael Junior, John and Daniel.
Today.... Ireland has a new President.
Michael D Higgins....
To whom I wish every luck and joy....every health and happiness.... in his work and in his tenure of Office.
Tá fear ón Iarthar taghta chun chinn. Ráth Dé ort san am atá le teacht. Go nEirí leat
a uachtaráin.