In a stinging attack on the Catholic Church, President Higgins has questioned the existence of denominational education in Northern Ireland and the right of the Church to comment on relations between men and women.
In an interview with the Irish Examiner, he was asked about the position of the Catholic Church in Ireland has since he was first elected in 2011, especially in light of reports into Cloyne and the Tuam babies scandal.
“It has totally changed. You mention Cloyne: how could it ever be acceptable that you would have a separate legal system, that placed itself above the legal system of the State, in which the State is responsible to the people?” he asks.
“Secondly, in relation to the idea of conscience. If you are in fact going to respect conscience, how can you be absolutist in making statements about women and about relationships between men and women.
“In terms of the North, how can you say that you are genuinely in favour of things going forward in the North, when you are insisting that children be educated separately, on a denomination basis,” he says.
The President also took pride in wading into the debate over the death of Savita Halappanavar when he backed an inquiry into her death even though the Government was opposed to the idea. He named it as an instance where he ‘absolutely and deliberately’ knew he was overstepping the boundaries of what the Government thought should be his role.
“I’ll give you an example, like the case of Savita. Here is the choice facing me. I am in England, attending an event, and this has happened and I know that has affected women and people are very concerned. I carefully used my words that an inquiry should be sufficient to meet the reasonable expectations of her husband and should have consequences and proposals to ensure that something like this never happens again. I do remember people saying, people arguing archaic kind of thinking, saying this is something he shouldn’t be doing. It is something that I am absolutely convinced was the right thing to do. It is what the President, directly elected and exercising judgement, should do.”
