London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Irish president urged to attend centenary service with Queen

Irish president urged to attend centenary service with Queen

DUP leader criticises Michael D Higgins’ decision not to attend service marking 1921 partition
Ireland’s president, Michael D Higgins, has triggered a political row with Northern Ireland’s unionists by shunning a commemoration of the island’s partition 100 years ago.

Higgins said he would not attend a church service with the Queen next month to mark the creation of Northern Ireland because the event had become politicised.

Higgins also said the invitation had referred incorrectly to him as the president of the Republic of Ireland, rather than the president of Ireland.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the leader of the Democratic Unionist party (DUP), on Friday accused Higgins of impeding reconciliation and urged him to reconsider. The Ulster Unionist party and Alliance expressed disappointment at the president’s decision. Some called it insulting and disrespectful.

The row caught the British and Irish governments off guard because Higgins, a largely ceremonial head of state who is independent of the Irish government, has often championed reconciliation, including appearing alongside Queen Elizabeth and in 2014 making the first state visit by an Irish head of state to the UK.

It is the most serious diplomatic flare-up in a year-long series of events to mark the creation of Northern Ireland in 1921. Formed from six of Ireland’s 32 counties, it had a Protestant majority that wished to remain under British rule while the rest of Ireland obtained de facto independence.

Sinn Féin and the SDLP, which represent Irish nationalists in Northern Ireland, have shunned many centenary events, leaving the British government and unionists to mark the state’s foundation with a low-key programme.

Higgins had been expected to join the Queen at a religious service in Armagh on 21 October. Earlier this week, it emerged he would not attend, prompting unionists to seek clarification. After several days of silence, Higgins on Thursday briefed Irish journalists who are covering his four-day visit to Rome, where he is due to meet Pope Francis.

The president said the title of the event, which it stated was to “mark the centenaries of the partition of Ireland and the formation of Northern Ireland”, made it inappropriate for him to attend.

“What [had started out as] an invitation to a religious service had in fact become a political statement” he told the Irish Times. “I was also referred to as the president of the Republic of Ireland. I am the president of Ireland.”

Referring to the Queen, he said: “I am not snubbing anyone and I am not part of anyone’s boycott of any other events in Northern Ireland. I wish their service well but they understand that I have the right to exercise a discretion as to what I think is appropriate for my attendance.”

Higgins bristled at DUP claims that this amounted to a snub. “It’s a bit much, to be frank with you. I have gone up to Northern Ireland to take part in events. There often has not been a great deal of traffic down from the DUP people who are criticising me now.”

Donaldson told the BBC on Friday the president’s comments were disappointing and “not conducive” to reconciliation. “Failing to recognise the existence of Northern Ireland does not help anybody.”

The Irish government said it would consider any invitation for a government representative to attend and that the president was free to make his own decision.

In a comment piece for the Guardian in February, Higgins urged all sides to remember complex, uncomfortable aspects of Britain and Ireland’s shared history.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×