@culturalfatwa
Kevin Higgins for President!
Put a real poet in the Park!
— Partisan Panda (@rmltpie) March 14, 2015
I came home after MCing our March Over The
Edge Writers' Gathering last night to find the above Tweet on that endlessly
trickling torrent of wisdom that is Twitter. It would appear that someone thinks I should be the next President of Ireland. They might be joking. But I think this is a great idea, and so propose to take it at face value.
At any poetry readings I do between now and the next Irish Presidential Election in November 2018, I will insist on being introduced as "Kevin Higgins, next President of Ireland".
My presidency would be a presidency of reform and renewal; mostly for me, I badly need it.
I have already decided on one change to existing Presidential protocol. As of my inaugaration on that historic day in November 2018, the country will have a new Presidential Anthem, which will be the words of my poem 'Autobiography' set to music by Chris DeBurgh and sung (at rugby matches, camogie finals and the like) by that rising Irish radio star, Terence Flanagan TD.
I've looked into the rules, in terms of how one gets to be President, and, according to Wikipedia, they are as follows:
"To qualify, candidates must be a citizen of Ireland, be at least 35 years of age, and be nominated by: at least twenty of the 226 serving members of the Houses of the Oireachtas [TDs or Shenators], or at least 4 of the 34 county or city councils or him- or herself, in the case of an incumbent or former president who has served one term."
I know this will come as a surprise to many of you, but I can confirm that, despite my youthful looks, I am indeed at least 35 years of age. And I am certainly a citizen of Ireland.
I am, though, despite rumours to the contrary, not Michael D. Higgins, so I cannot nominate myself.
So I need either twenty TDs or Shenators, or 4 county or city councils, to nominate me to be the next President of Ireland.
The campaign Facebook page is already set up. You can like it here. Please do share it around the place.
UPDATE: This campaign is growing legs. See article on Politics.ie.
