Michael D Higgins insists he is President of Ireland, refuses to commemorate partition

The correct title of the office is president of Ireland. But then the DUP etc have a major issue referring to officials in Ireland by their correct title.

President Higgins is correct in everything he has said. They made the event political so he declined.

Good man Michael D he's dead right.

Not referring to him by his correct title was a deliberate insult, there's no way that's a clerical error. So he'd be 100% right not to attend on those grounds alone. If they don't want to refer to him as the President of Ireland they shouldn't have invited him.

In any event he'd be right not to attend. The event is clearly meant as a celebration of partition, despite any protestations to the contrary. Saying it's to mark partition rather than celebrate it doesn't change the reality.

The President of Ireland is not available, he has a prior engagement on that day. An arrangement like this one with the Queen attending has to be organised months if not years in advance, they could have asked earlier. It is an insult by the DUP organisers to ask the 'President of the Republic of Ireland' knowing full well that is not the correct form of address, they probably held back calling him the 'President of the Free State'.

The DUP is looking for another chance to be 'offended', it has backfired on them and shows how foolish they are.

He isn't the President of the whole island of Ireland for the simple reason that I, in the North, can't vote for him or his office. He is the president of Ireland, the short title given to the Republic Of Ireland.

Personally I think it's a trick missed, it's far too easy for the DUP to point and tell their followers that nothing has changed or ever will change. To get to the point where we can have a unified Ireland, enough moderate unionists like me need to be convinced that a/ we would get a fair deal in Ireland and b/ that Ireland actually wants us. This would have ticked both boxes.

Anyone that annoys the gobshites in the DUP is good with me.

Sorry that is just wrong.

I refer you to the constitution of Ireland and article 4 which declare the name of this state.

ARTICLE 4

The name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland.

What you are referring to is the official description of the country of Ireland as declared in the 1948 Act, The Republic of Ireland Act.

2.—It is hereby declared that the description of the State shall be the Republic of Ireland.

An Act of Legislation does not supersede the constitution so the name of this country remains in the English language Ireland

He is absolutely correct.

Article 3 of the Irish constitution states:

Partition by definition causes disharmony and division. Therefore any celebration or commemoration of partition is repugnant to the constitution. Therefore it would be wrong for the President - as the defender of the constitution - to attend such an event.

That's before we get to the fact that the event is a protestant religious service and therefore is excludes a majority of Northern Irish citizens. This is not a commemoration, it's a piece of Unionist onanism.

He should have had the decency to discuss the matter with the heads of government. It's not his position to make political statements like this. People are excusing it because of their dislike of the DUP, especially in the wake of Brexit, but in reality he's way out of line with this.

Not just that straightforward though is it ....

"according to the Constitution of Ireland, the names of the Irish state are 'Ireland' (in English) and 'Éire' (in Irish).[1] From 1922 to 1937, its legal name was 'the Irish Free State'. The state has jurisdiction over almost five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The rest of the island is Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. Consequently, other formal and informal names have been (and are) used when it is necessary to distinguish between the territory of the state and the island as a whole. In 1948 it adopted the term Republic of Ireland as the 'official description of the state', without changing the constitutional names."

<link to the Wikipedia page that I'm not allowed to insert>

Note I'm not saying he's the President of the Republic of Ireland .... his title is President of Ireland and in that the DUP were incorrect. However he is not my President much as I would like him to be as I can't vote for him. It's complicated. I do think it's a trick missed though on the part of Ireland, but I also agree he is entirely free to make his own decision on it.

More than anything on this, it's his principled choice and at this point the spineless hand-wringing seen across the broadcast/written spectrum over the past few days about 'whether-or-not-he-should-go' needs to stop. Taking every opportunity to do overt kowtowing to a select group of whingy politicians from the North who are just engaged in dog-whistling is embarrassing beyond belief.

And yes, their use of an incorrect form of his title in the invitation was a provocation, deliberate or otherwise.

Well said.

judging but the posts here, the most shocking thing is the large minority of people who don't know that name of this country. Seriously like, what the ****?

Ah yeah we'll just put aside the constitution...