Asked about what he would like to see in the incoming president, he said he won’t comment on the “forthcoming events”.
“All I know is that I’ll do my best to have the place looking alright,” he told RTÉ Radio One’s Second Captains Saturday this afternoon.
President Michael D Higgins (Liam McBurney/PA)
Today’s News in 90 Seconds – August 23rd
After his “great move” from Áras an Uachtaráin, as he described it, President Higgins (84) confirmed he will live in Rahoon, Co Galway.
“I know I’m hearing talks about boxes and skips and books and everything. I’m very much looking forward, I’m going to be living in Rahoon,” he said.
“There are projects I’m continuing abroad, as well as at home, and I do think I will run a few significant things that I haven’t really got to deal with that I want to put more on, and that is in relation to the elimination of violence against women.
“I also want to do a few more things, because all my life, I have been meeting the travellers and so forth, and I will probably do something. So there are a number of pieces that I have to finish before we go for the inauguration of my successor.”
Speaking about the next chapter of his life after the presidency, he is looking forward to spending time with his two grandchildren, Finn (2) and Fiadh (4).
“It is marvellous that Sabina and I have both been public figures all our lives. I’m very much looking forward to spending some time with our two grandchildren,” he said.
“I’ve got all these books that [were] left aside to come back to, so I won’t be stuck for something to do.”
The President also opened up about the stroke he suffered on February 29 last year, after which he spent eight days in hospital.
“Then I had very good treatment from the physios and from everyone, so I didn’t cancel anything. So I can assure you I’m not flying up and down the steps to the same speed.
“I also used sticks, because the stroke was on my left side, and it is mostly all back, but my balance is risky,” he added.
He also spoke about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, describing this period as “tragic”.
While opening the Fleadh Cheoil festival in Wexford three weeks ago, the President said: “I cannot really stand in a public venue and give a public speech and speak about our language, when I see such an incredible destruction of an entire people taking place.
“Are we to watch children starving? Women dehydrated trying to feed their children. So something must happen,” he said at the time.
“The interview I gave at the opening of the Fleadh has now [been] carried on Al Jazeera, and it has been on Iranian television and Turkish television. And I got two letters yesterday from the Institute for Arab Studies in Paris.
“I’m a member of a group of non-executive presidents called Arraiolos, and I resent a letter to them, [saying:] ‘This is not a time for silence and so forth’. And among the people who replied to me is President Mattarella of Italy. And he said: ‘Would I have a go at drafting a statement?’. And I had a go at it, so I’m leaving it, and I’m waiting for the response to that.
“The realm of unaccountability is the most dangerous threat to democracy.
“The main thing is, I think, for a global reassertion of the importance of the General Assembly. And I have been outlining recently how in the charter, there is a mechanism called chapter seven, where, if a certain proportion of the General Assembly supported, even if the Security Council uses the veto to block it, the Secretary General can call for a force to be put together to guarantee humanitarian access with United Nations’ support.
“And that’s what’s in the letter that I have sent to my colleagues.”