Higgins vows to change Irish values

President-elect Michael D Higgins celebrates with his wife Sabina, centre right, and children, from left, Michael, Alice, John and Daniel
12 April 2012

President-elect Michael D Higgins has vowed to lead the country in a necessary transformation away from values based on wealth.

After securing more than 1 million votes, the Labour veteran said he will be a President for all.

Mr Higgins said his seven year term as head of state will be defined by efforts to turn inclusion into reality.

The 70-year-old's resounding victory was formally announced in Dublin Castle marking one of the most remarkable swings in support in an election.

In an impassioned and powerful speech, he set the tone for his presidency with a pledge to lead a sea change in the values of society.

"I love our shared island, our shared Ireland and its core decency. I love it for its imagination and its celebration of the endless possibilities for our people," he said.

"As we leave behind a narrow revisionism that valued a person for what was assumed to be their accumulated wealth but neglected the connection between the person, the social, the community and the nation. That is what we all leave behind now for which a million people have given me a mandate.

Mr Higgins' success, secured after transfers from four counts, is the largest total in an Irish presidential election.

"Now we must respond collectively and co-operatively for what we all must recognise as our shared problems - be it unemployment, mortgage distress or any form of exclusion," he said. "We must now work to our strengths at home and abroad. Not only co-operatively and collectively but sustainably for the benefit of all our of our present generations and those to come."

Mr Higgins, a poet, professor and campaigner, will be inaugurated on November 11.

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