Sir, — Sabina Coyne Higgins has been a lifelong advocate for peace and justice, as has her husband, President Michael D Higgins. She has been subjected to unreasonable criticism and abuse simply because she called for a negotiated ceasefire in the Ukrainian conflict (Letters, July 27th). She never suggested that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was justified.
Bunreacht na hÉireann Article 29 states that: “Ireland affirms its devotion to the ideal of peace and friendly co-operation among nations founded on international justice and morality” and that “Ireland affirms its adherence to the principle of the pacific settlement of international disputes by international arbitration or judicial determination”.
Those who criticise Ms Coyne Higgins are, in effect, calling for a continuation of the war in Ukraine which has already caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people, including many children. For every day this war continues, hundreds more people will be killed.
By using its membership of the UN Security Council the Irish Government should work for peace in Ukraine as they are mandated to do under our Constitution. — Yours, etc,
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EDWARD HORGAN
Castletroy, Limerick.
Sir, — Sabina Coyne Higgins has every right to express an opinion on the Ukraine/Russia conflict. She is not the president and the days are long gone when a wife was bound by the status, opinions and restrictions of her husband.
It is hard to understand the fury generated by her simple proposal that, since every conflict eventually comes to the round table in the end, that this one do so as soon as possible to save lives and human suffering. — Is mise,
MÁIRÍN DeBURCA
Fairview, Dublin 3.
Sir, — Sabina Coyne Higgins might be considered a private citizen just like any other if she followed in the footsteps of Nicholas Robinson and Maeve Hillery, and did not frequently join her spouse on his official business as President. But she does, so she can’t be. — Yours, etc,
DAVID MCKENNA
Dublin 8
Sir, — Is it written anywhere in Bunreacht na hÉireann that one loses one’s right to have, or at least publicly express, personal opinions when one’s spouse becomes Uachtaráin na hÉireann? — Is mise,
BRIAN PATTERSON
Newry,
Co Down.
Sir, — Since when does calling for a ceasefire and negotiations in a conflict zone equate with support for brutality and aggression? It doesn’t. If it did, John Hume’s engagement with Gerry Adams whilst the IRA were still active would have amounted to support for the IRA. It didn’t. What it achieved was to lay down important foundations for what became the path to peace. Well done, Ms Coyne Higgins. — Yours, etc,
EUGENE O’SHEA
Burrower,
Killarney.
Sir — I have been a huge fan of Michael D Higgins for many decades. However, the unfortunate letter from Sabina Coyne Higgins on the war in Ukraine does not help the cause of peace and is not appreciated by the Irish people. It says a lot that it was welcomed by the Russian ambassador to Ireland.
The defence that Ms Coyne Higgins is merely a private citizen does not hold. Most private citizens don’t have an address in the Phoenix Park or take part in State ceremonies, or have their letter reproduced on the Áras website (to be removed some days later).
This misstep by the President and his wife give rise to legitimate concerns about judgment on important matters.
The President should consider his position. — Yours, etc,
PADRAIC MURRAY,
Glenageary,
Co Dublin
Sir, — Regardless of what one might think of its contents; the partner of the President of Ireland sending a detailed letter to a leading newspaper on a highly contentious foreign affairs issue is deeply problematic.
To resolve this unfortunate situation, President Michael D Higgins must publicly distance himself from his wife’s letter or take the more appropriate course of action, which would be to resign his position. — Yours, etc,
JOSEPH G O’HANLON
Clontarf, Dublin
Sir, — Every war ends with negotiation, ceasefire and compromise. Whether this happens sooner or later has a huge effect on the number of fatalities.
As an anti-war activist Sabina Coyne Higgins is correct in arguing ceasefire negotiations should begin as soon as possible. — Yours, etc,
MARIE HUMPHRIES
Drumcondra,
Dublin 9.
Sir, — Sabina Coyne Higgins is in good company. Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said that if you want peace, you don’t talk to your friends, you talk to your enemies. Well done, Ms Coyne Higgins. — Yours, etc,
ELIZABETH CULLEN,
Kilcullen,
Co Kildare.
Sir, — When Sabina Coyne Higgins speaks of negotiations, she forgets that negotiations lead to terms.
A term of central importance to Moscow is that of land for peace. Ms Coyne Higgins, and Henry Kissinger for that matter, ignore an essential consequence of such an outcome. Both ignore, perhaps inadvertently, the grotesque injustice and the humanitarian catastrophe of treating an aggressor and its victim as equals. With Russian leader Vladimir Putin, we need only look to Crimea and the Donbas to see the hell that awaits captured Ukrainian towns and cities.
After all, you don’t just cede Ukrainian land, but Ukrainian people too. You abandon millions of civilians to potential torture and systematic dehumanisation under Putin’s rule. You allow Putin to steal vast resources that the population of Ukraine depends upon.
Is it peace to jettison millions of Ukrainians accustomed to life in a democracy, one that upholds the rule of law, to live instead under Putin’s poisonous grip? — Yours, etc,
ANTOIN FLETCHER
Tralee, Co Kerry
Sir, — Sabina Coyne Higgins’s letter speaks for so many of us who have looked on in dismay as the Ukraine tragedy has unfolded, and whose only and earnest wish is to see peace restored between these two neighbours as soon as possible.
Support for Irish neutrality is not so easily diminished by those who would have us taking sides in this senseless conflict. At the end of the day, there will be a truce and there will be a negotiated peace; who would quibble with a desire, as expressed by Ms Coyne Higgins, to see this happen now, not then? — Yours, etc,
DONAL DENHAM,
Former ambassador of
Ireland to Lithuania, Belarus
and Finland,
Blackrock, Co Dublin.