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

Wheres the "Republic of Irleand" its a random fact he posted.

He has created more animosity by refusing the invitation instead of accepting.

Poor judgment on his part, I think he should have gone.

Of course he should not attend. Good on him for showing a bit of backbone. Absolutely ridiculous thing to expect our president to celebrate.

He would slaughter them in any debate, that's for sure. Realistically he'd have declined to attend anyway, but there's no question that the invitation was a very blatant attempt at a political insult.

He is president of Ireland. The country of Ireland that he is president of does not contain northern ireland. I'm sure you understand that and are simply trolling as I don't believe you are that stupid.

OK, so he is the president of Ireland but not the 6 counties....

He is the President of the country of Ireland which does not include the 6 counties but is still called Ireland. He is not president of the island and no one has claimed he is.

Some have, indeed previously he hinted that he was president for the whole Island of Ireland.

This will go down as another spanner in the works for a UI. You know when you are on a bad one when the Alliance Party and sympathetic sections of the British media like the Guardian are scratching their heads at this move. To say he is not going because he was called by his wrong title is both juvenile and pathetic tbh.

However, if you are like me and want to kick the can of a UI down the road of a few decades, this will do nicely.

This naming thing. Dev et al f*cked up big time IMO by claiming Ireland as the name of the state. I can't really see the point of view of that if they didn't, they'd be leaving it to unionists to claim, and by using it as the name of the state, they gave and continue to give great succour to partitionists and staters to claim that the North is a different country. The name should not have been used as the name of only part of the country theretofore known as Ireland. But anyway I suppose there's no squirting that milk back up the cow's udders now.

IMO Ireland the island is a country, the same as Germany was a country while it was partitioned, and Korea is a country too. Poland during the times it was occupied and partitioned was also a country. And ofc the 26 county state is also a country and also named Ireland.

No way should you have an O in your username......definite soup taker.

Fair play to him, right decision.

Plus Jeffrey is p#ssed off...bonus.

That'd be the Alliance Party, who's leader at the time, David Ford refused to attend any commemorations of Irish independence, referring to it as a, 'commemoration of violence?

I'd suggest the APNI check their own hypocrisy before trying to assert any moral high ground on the matter, and I say this as someone with a great deal of respect for the party in general.

Out of curiosity, Mark....is there a single topic relating to the politics of these islands on which you won't take the hardline Ulster Loyalist position on when it's an option? Your faux attempts to act like you can't distinguish between Ireland as a state and Ireland as an island just reads like another attempt to drag down any discussion such as this into the dirt of strawman arguments that no one made.

The fact of the matter is the state we live in is called Ireland when speaking English, this does not include the six counties of NI. The term Republic of Ireland is a description, not the name of the state. The title of the President of this state (again, in English) is the President of Ireland. Anyone with a modicum of diplomacy about them would refer to a state official by their correct title.

Your fake inability to differentiate between the island and the state to set up a strawman argument that anyone is claiming Higgins is the President for all 32 counties is ridiculous....and still doesn't change the fact that his title is President of Ireland.