Michael D. Higgins

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Michael D. Higgins in May 2006

Michael Daniel Higgins , Irish : Mícheál Dónal Ó hUiginn , (born April 18, 1941 in Limerick ) is an Irish politician of the Irish Labor Party and since November 11, 2011 the 9th President of Ireland .

Life

Childhood, adolescence and academic career

Michael Higgins is the son of John Higgins, a lieutenant in the Irish Republican Army in the Irish War of Independence . At the age of five, his father placed him in the care of an uncle and aunt who ran a farm in County Clare , near Newmarket-on-Fergus. Higgins attended Saint Flannan's College in Ennis . After finishing school, he worked for several months in a factory in the then-new 1959 created free zone Shannon Free Airport Industrial Estate at Shannon Airport . He passed the entrance examination for the teacher training college in Drumcondra , but could not start training because he in the dorm of the teachers' college, the deposit could not pay for the bedding. Instead, he worked for two years in Galway as an employee in the local office of the state-owned electricity supply company Electricity Supply Board (ESB).

The money earned there enabled him to be the first to study in the family. His studies at University College Galway closed it in 1965 with the Bachelor of Commerce degree and obtained from there as well in 1966 (B.Comm.) BA (main subjects: English , sociology and political science) and in 1967 at the Indiana University in Bloomington the Master of Arts ( MA) in sociology.

Higgins was then lecturer in sociology at University College Galway and visiting professor at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale . During the years of teaching in Galway, he also made a name for himself as a poet and essayist.

He is fluent in Irish and has some knowledge of Spanish.

Political career

In 1968 Higgins joined the Irish Labor Party. In 1973 the then Prime Minister ( Taoiseach ), Liam Cosgrave , appointed Higgins as a representative of the Irish Labor Party as a member of the Senate ( Seanad Éireann ). In the Senate elections in 1977, however, he suffered a defeat and left the Senate.

In 1981 he was elected a member of the House of Commons ( Dáil Éireann ) and represented the constituency of Galway West until he was defeated in the House of Commons elections in November 1982 . He was also mayor of Galway for the first time from December 1981 to 1982 . He was then again a member of the Senate from 1983 and was one of the three representatives of the National University of Ireland, Galway . In 1987 he was again elected a member of the Dáil Éireann and represented there until the parliamentary election in 2011 , in which he no longer ran, again the constituency of Galway West . He was also Mayor of Galway again between 1990 and 1991.

On January 12, 1993, Prime Minister ( Taoiseach ) Albert Reynolds appointed him Minister for Arts, Culture and the Irish-speaking Areas ( Gaeltacht ) in the coalition government of Fianna Fáil and Irish Labor Party . He held this office until his resignation on November 17, 1994.

In the subsequent coalition government of Fine Gael and Irish Labor Party, Prime Minister John Bruton appointed him less than a month later on December 15, 1994, also Minister for Art, Culture and the Gaeltacht; Higgins served in the government until the end of Bruton's tenure on June 26, 1997.

President

In the 2011 presidential election , Higgins ran as the Labor Party candidate and was elected as the successor to Mary McAleese with 39.6% of the vote, well ahead of Seán Gallagher , who was in the polls until a few days before the election . After his election, Higgins declared that he had terminated his membership in the Labor Party and resigned from the party chairmanship, considering the presidency as an independent office.

In the 2018 presidential election , Higgins ran again as a candidate for president, this time as an independent candidate. As an incumbent, he was automatically qualified to participate. He was supported by all major parties in Ireland with the exception of Sinn Féin. Higgins was confirmed in office against five other candidates in the first counting round with 55.8 percent of the vote.

family

Higgins has been married since 1974. His wife, Sabina Higgins (née Coyne), is an actress from Cloonrane , County Galway , where she grew up on a farm. The couple have a daughter and three sons. The daughter Alice Mary was elected to the Seanad Éireann in 2016.

Honors

Web links

Commons : Michael D. Higgins  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Higgins becomes president at Dublin Castle inauguration , The Irish Times , November 11, 2011
  2. ^ Brian McDonald Michael: Michael D: the boy, the man and the President . In: Irish Independent , November 12, 2011, accessed July 8, 2019.
  3. ^ A b Frank Connolly: Michael D - trade union activist, socialist, politician and poet . In: Liberty . Zeitschrift der Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU), Dublin, issue July 2011, pp. 16–17, here p. 16.
  4. ^ Frank Connolly: Michael D - trade union activist, socialist, politician and poet . In: Liberty . Journal of Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU), Dublin, Issue July 2011, pp. 16-17.
  5. ^ A b John Cunningham: Michael D. Higgins: formative years in Galway, 1961–1981 . In: Special Supplement to the Connacht Tribune for the Election of President of Ireland, November 2011, accessed July 8, 2019.
  6. ↑ IU extends congratulations to alumnus who will become Ireland's ninth president , October 31, 2011, accessed July 8, 2019.
  7. ^ Abdon Moriarty Pallasch: President Michael Higgins Visits the Midwest . In: Irish America , May 12, 2014, accessed July 8, 2019.
  8. ^ Lise Hand: Appearance of the candidates for the 2011 presidential election, Higgins counters with Gaelic. In: Independent online. September 29, 2011, archived from the original on September 30, 2011 ; accessed on December 14, 2019 (English).
  9. ↑ Universidad Internacional Menédez Pelayo: The President of the Republic of Ireland is learning Spanish. August 25, 2012, archived from the original on May 8, 2014 ; accessed on December 14, 2019 (Spanish).
  10. ^ Higgins declared president-elect with one million votes. In: The Irish Times (online). October 29, 2011, accessed October 28, 2018 .
  11. ^ Minister Murphy makes Presidential Election Order , gov.ie, Aug. 28, 2018
  12. ↑ Nomination of candidates on page 4: How the President is Elected , gov.ie
  13. ↑ Kevin Doyle: Parties backing Higgins told to not use his image. In: Irish Independent (online). October 18, 2018, accessed October 28, 2018 .
  14. ↑ Presidential Election 2018/2018 Results: Overall Candidate Votes Throughout Counts. (No longer available online.) Presidential Returning Officer, Oct. 27, 2018, archived from the original on Oct. 28, 2018 ; accessed on October 28, 2018 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.presidentialelection.ie
  15. ↑ Homecoming planned for Michael D Higgins in Galway . In: The Irish Times , October 30, 2011 (photo with wife and children).
  16. ↑ inauguration poems, American presidential . In: The Virgil Encyclopedia . John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Oxford, UK 2014, ISBN 978-1-118-35135-2 , pp. 650-651 , doi : 10.1002 / 9781118351352.wbve1093 .
  17. ↑ Tim Luard: Exit Strategy 20 December 1941 . In: Escape from Hong Kong Admiral Chan Chak's Christmas-Day Dash, 1941 . Hong Kong University Press, 2011, ISBN 978-988-8083-76-3 , pp. 51-59 , doi : 10.5790 / hongkong / 9789888083763.003.0007 .
  18. ↑ CBS News / New York Times Iowa Poll, November # 3, 2011. January 10, 2013, accessed October 29, 2019 .
  19. ↑ CBS News / New York Times Iowa Poll, November # 3, 2011. January 10, 2013, accessed October 29, 2019 .
  20. ^ Sociological Association of Ireland (SAI): President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins (Sociologist) , accessed July 8, 2019.
  21. ↑ Members: Michael Daniel Higgins. Royal Irish Academy, accessed May 7, 2019 .
  22. ↑ Michael D Higgins NUI Honorary Degree Citation , accessed July 8, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Higgins, Michael D.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Higgins, Michael Daniel (full name); Ó hUiginn, Mícheál Dónal
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Irish poet, political scientist, politician (Irish Labor Party) and incumbent Irish President
DATE OF BIRTH April 18, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH limerick