Legislation

During 2020 President Higgins considered and signed 32 Bills into law.

The Houses of the Oireachtas (Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann) are responsible for passing bills, but it is not until Bills are signed by the President that they become law.

The President’s role in this context is to consider whether Bills presented to him are compatible with the Constitution.

The President cannot veto a Bill simply because he doesn’t agree with its provisions, but other than Money Bills or Bills to amend the Constitution, where he has doubts over a Bill’s constitutionality, he can, after consulting with the Council of State refer it to the Supreme Court to make a determination in this regard.

If the Supreme Court finds that the Bill, or any part of it, is unconstitutional, the President cannot sign the Bill and it is not enacted. However, if the Court holds that the Bill is constitutional, the President signs the Bill and it becomes law. In this situation, under Article 34 of Bunreacht na hÉireann, the constitutionality of this legislation, or the provision of the bill that had been referred to the Supreme Court cannot be challenged at a later stage.

In the case of disagreement between the Dáil and the Seanad, members of the Oireachtas may petition the President not to sign a Bill, on the grounds that it contains a proposal of such national importance that the will of the people should be sought, in the form of a referendum. Such a petition requires a majority of the Seanad and at least one third of the Dáil. This provision of the constitution has never be exercised.

President publishes May Day poem

On 1 May 2020, President Michael D. Higgins published a new poem for May Day.

The poem was dedicated to Mary McPartlan, folk singer and trade union activist, and friend of Sabina and President Higgins. Due to the Covid-19 restrictions, the President could not attend her funeral in April 2020.

Published on the day that the President addressed a virtual May Day event hosted by SIPTU, the poem paid tribute to the trade union movement.

Mary McPartlan

(In Memory of Mary McPartlan, Folk Singer & Trade Union Activist)

The night is long and I awake Recall the making of the march, On those Saturdays made holy, The beat of feet behind banners, That bore the glory of the words, The call for a life made equal, Banners held steady for the speech, Gold threaded, fringed, eyeleted With care, for the carrying, To defeat the opposing breeze, Borne by arms made strong, From work of mind, of heart and hand.

Those words, sent out to cheers I search for now, They are not gone, Nor is the memory, Of how they danced, without restraint, Skipping back and forth to cheers, In joyful subversion Of the ordinary.

The echo of that beat of feet behind banners, On Saturdays made holy Is slow to come. Can it be that it is lost, Perhaps forgotten? Surely not so. For in the long sweep of history, In the stories that will be told, Others will hear of how behind banners They marched, women and men And children too, on Saturdays made holy, It will be told of how they sometimes won, And often lost, if never defeated It will matter that they sometimes wept On folding, for another day, those banners That carried words, emancipatory

The night though long And dawn so slow in breaking Yet morning light, glorious, Reveals how from those arrows fledged in history, That missed their mark in darkness Have sprung in light some frail fruit trees, Of hope

In other times, an old planet weary finds new life, Renewal, from the music of the heart. And now a new song emerges, From behind banners gold threaded, again made sacred, On Saturdays made holy, with words emancipatory, As voices rise in unison, And sing of love, And a new day, For all humanity.

MDH May Day, 2020

President Higgins addressed the ILO Global Summit on Covid-19 and the World of Work, July 2020

Light for the Diaspora

In December, as President Higgins and Sabina lit the lights on the Christmas tree outside Áras an Uachtaráin, they also unveiled a new river of light across the grounds.

Streaming from the light for the Irish diaspora on the first floor of the Áras, the river of light stretched out to all the Irish people and all those who could not be with their families for Christmas.

Acknowledging the difficult year that was 2020, President Higgins issued a special Christmas message for the Irish diaspora in December. In the message, the President recognised the difficulties associated with the pandemic travel restrictions, meaning that so many friends and families were not able to gather together to socialise and celebrate: “yet another disappointment to be added to the personal, social, economic and indeed cultural consequences of a pandemic that has resulted in so much tragedy since it enveloped the world earlier this year.”

Mindful of the particular needs of the Irish abroad, the President took great care to reach out to the Irish diaspora throughout the year.

At Áras an Uachtaráin, President Higgins and Sabina lit a river of light, streaming from the Light for the Diaspora on the first floor, across the grounds, and out to all the Irish people and all those who cannot be with their families this Christmas