President Michael D. Higgins releases Christmas Message 2024

President Michael D. Higgins
“Mar Uachtarán na hÉireann, cuirim fáilte chroíúil romhaibh agus guím Nollaig shíochánta shona oraibh go léir.

As President of Ireland, may I offer to each and every one of you my warmest greetings and my best wishes for a peaceful and happy Christmas.
On this occasion, as I offer you all what will be the final Christmas message of my terms as Uachtarán na hÉireann, I recall the values that I stressed in my first Christmas Message in 2011.

The ethical values I invoked as project for all of us – building a just and inclusive society that ensures the participation of all of our citizens – are surely as valid today as they were then, retaining a capacity to go to the hearts of Irish people wherever scattered they may be as they celebrate this season.

At Christmas, many families will be welcoming the homecomings of many of our Irish community abroad. But there are those of course who for different reasons are unable to travel home, but whose connection with family and friends remains so strong.

In the same spirit, I think of all those who have moved to live with us and make a new home in Ireland, our new citizens and those who have sought asylum here – those seeking refuge, those searching for a life free from fear and persecution, or who, like so many of our Irish over the generations, simply wish for a better life.
May they, this Christmas season, all feel both welcome and kindness while separated from their own families around the world. Their new home does not require any forgetting of their home cultures or families.

Let us have in our thoughts too those for whom Christmas is a difficult and emotional time of the year, those who are homeless, those who have experienced recent losses, those who are ill or who have loved ones who are having difficulties, and the many others in our society who may be in need of real and practical support.
May I pay a special tribute to those members of our Irish Defence Forces who will be overseas this Christmas and thus separated from their families. In particular those in Lebanon, whose contribution to peace-building and protecting some of the most vulnerable members of our shared global family is an example of Irishness and its values at its best. Their work and their families’ sacrifices that make it possible are moral examples for the entire international community, including the most powerful.

In 2024 we find ourselves in circumstances in which it is not sufficient nor morally acceptable that any passivity, evasion or silence is offered in the face of multiple, interlocking crises across our world – food insecurity, malnutrition and global hunger, the consequences of climate change and biodiversity loss, rising global poverty and deepening inequality, and the domination of preparations for war over peace in the daily discourse.
This Christmas, we are all too aware that far too many of our global family are having inflicted upon them as part of the most horrific circumstances of war, circumstances that less and less respect civilian rights and that force endless displacement.

At the end of this year we think of all those who will be recalling all of these horrific events of recent times – the brutal attacks on civilians, including the taking of hostages, for whom so many families continue to anxiously await word of their safety, and as I speak, so many deaths of the most vulnerable remind us of what was released by way of a response, a response that has transcended all of the boundaries of humanitarian law.
The silence of many of those with influence in the face of gross violations of the human rights of civilians is conferring an impunity on those who are flagrantly inflicting collective punishment on civilians, including starvation which, as I speak, is affecting most of all women and children.

For all of the people in Gaza, now a crucible of suffering for children and their families – 45,000 dead, 17,000 of them children, 11,000 perhaps under the rubble. For those in Ukraine, who have now endured over 1,000 days of war. Or Sudan, where some 25 million people — more than half of the country’s population — are facing acute hunger this year.
Given all of these circumstances, the painful lessons of history and our hopes for the future must surely persuade us to strive, with urgency, for a world where diplomacy triumphs over endless preparation for war, where the pursuit of peace is a shared objective with far greater resonance than is present at the moment in the discourse.
When we might speak of peace in a diverse world, where the safety and dignity of every human being is valued. This is now our best hope and preparation for responsible and sustainable lives together on what is our vulnerable shared planet.

When I addressed the United Nations Summit on the Future of the United Nations in New York in September, I spoke of authenticity, of how our urgent interacting crises require us to recover a lost authenticity between words and actions, to draw on what were our better, promising moments of achieving trust, such as in 2015 when we agreed collectively the United Nations 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, a shared blueprint for peace and human development in recognising and responding to the consequences of climate change and the promise of sustainable living.
We are challenged however by the fact that our delivery on these Goals has been so much less than what was committed. Today just 17 percent of the Sustainable Development Goals are currently on track. Half of the 17 goals are showing “minimal or moderate progress”, while over a third are either “stalled or regressing”. 
How is it, we must ask ourselves as international leaders, that the world produces enough food to feed all of its nearly 8 billion people, yet dangerous levels of acute hunger affected a staggering 282 million people across the world last year?

Ireland supports President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s initiative, the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty.

We are also, and it is a matter of concern, living through a pervasive and deepening inequality that scars our world. Never have so many had so little and so few accumulated so much without responsibility.
I reiterate my strong and urgent appeal for us all to support the United Nations so that we may all fulfil our commitments to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The failure to achieve peace, to eliminate acute global poverty, hunger, and the consequences of climate change and biodiversity loss have been accompanied by a return to an arms race, to a world that has rewarded investors in instruments of death rather than promoting sustainability.
What a shameful statistic it is that in 2023 global military expenditure increased by 6.8 percent to $2,443 billion, increasing in all regions, the highest ever recorded. All of this while so many human values cry out for recognition.

When wars and conflicts become accepted and presented as seemingly unending, such as at present, humanity is the loser. War is not the natural condition of humanity and, if it were, it would constitute little less than a species failure for human life.
Now is the time for all of us, for all peoples to speak and urge countries of the world who wish to see a world of peace, a sustainable and more equal world built on the Sustainable Development Goals, to come together, speak out and force the measures that will make these vital goals a global achievement.

As we celebrate this Christmas season, wherever we may be and in whatever circumstances, may it be a time for kindness, understanding, a time of care and appreciation for one another.

Let us all be grateful, in a special way, to all those who work in our hospitals and emergency services, to those attending to the needs of the homeless, the vulnerable and the marginalised, and to all those who so generously give up so much of their Christmas to serve the needs of others.

May I also take this opportunity to thank so many of you who sent many messages of good wishes for the health of Sabina and I earlier this year – your warmth and encouragement was deeply appreciated by us both.

And as we come to the end of 2024, there are many recollections we could share, but one that remains as a shining memory is surely that of our Olympians and Paralympians who represented Ireland with such distinction in Paris last summer.

In my first Christmas Message, in 2011, I said “we are a country of which there is much to be proud; whose possibilities are still to be fully imagined and realised; and whose people I am honoured to serve”.

As I enter this 14th and final year as President of Ireland, it remains the greatest honour and privilege to serve you, the people of Ireland. I look forward immensely to continuing to do so over the coming year. 

During my terms in Office, both Sabina and I have experienced and valued the warmth and friendship of people both at home and abroad. We have witnessed the resilience, compassion, creativity, empathy and kindness of Irish people in so many different ways. It is something we so deeply appreciate and we will always cherish.
And so, as we pass the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, let us look to the future with hope, recalling our shared vulnerabilities this Christmas, resolving to forge together a renewed sense of solidarity, drawing inspiration from the enduring message of hope that lies at its heart.

During this Christmas season, may we find an opportunity to deepen our understanding and accept the responsibility of what it means to live together in harmony and to take seriously our responsibilities to each other and to the world we share.

Sabina joins me in wishing all the people of Ireland a joyful Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

Nollaig shona daoibh is beirigí gach beannacht don athbhliain is don todhchaí. 

Teachtaireacht na Nollag, 2024,

Uachtarán Micheál D. Ó hUigínn

Is ábhar mór sásaimh dom mar Uachtarán na hÉireann an deis seo a bheith agam beannachtaí croíúla a sheoladh chuig gach uile dhuine agaibh, agus Nollaig shuaimhneach faoi shíocháin a ghuí oraibh.

Smaoiním inniu agus mé ag seoladh teachtaireacht Nollag deiridh mo théarma mar Uachtarán ar na luachanna a léirigh mé i mo chéad teachtaireacht Nollag sa bhliain 2011.

Is cinnte go bhfuil na luachanna eiticiúla sin a chuir mé romhainn uile mar thionscadal chomh tábhachtach inniu agus a bhí siad an uair sin – sochaí chóir agus ionchuimsitheach a fhorbairt a chinnteodh rannpháirtíocht gach saoránaigh; téann na luachanna sin fós go croí i muintir na hÉireann is cuma cá bhfuil siad scaipthe agus iad ag ceiliúradh an tséasúir seo.

Beidh teaghlaigh go leor ag cur fáilte abhaile faoi Nollaig roimh bhaill den phobal Éireannach a bhfuil cónaí orthu thar lear. Tá daoine áirithe, ar ndóigh, nach bhfuil in ann taisteal abhaile ar chúiseanna éagsúla, ach tá a gceangal lena dteaghlaigh agus lena gcairde chomh láidir is a bhí sé riamh.

Smaoiním sa spiorad céanna ar gach duine a d’aistrigh chun cónaí linn anseo agus a rinne baile nua a chruthú dóibh féin in Éirinn, ár saoránaigh nua agus iadsan a d’iarr tearmann anseo – iad ag lorg dídine, ar thóir saoil a bheadh saor ó eagla agus ó ghéarleanúint, nó, ar nós cuid mhór dár muintir féin a d’imigh uainn thar na glúnta, nach raibh uathu ach caighdeán saoil níos fearr a bhaint amach.

Guím gur fáilte agus cineáltas a bhraithfidh gach duine acu anseo an Nollaig seo agus iad scartha óna dteaghlaigh féin ar fud na cruinne. Ní éilíonn a mbaile nua anseo go ligfidís in aon ndearmad a gcultúr dúchais ná a dteaghlaigh féin.  

Cuimhnímis freisin ar na daoine sin ar tréimhse dheacair dóibh agus lán do mothúcháin í an Nollaig– daoine gan dídean, iad siúd a chaill duine muinteartha le gairid, daoine atá tinn nó daoine a bhfuil cruachás éigin ag bagairt orthu siúd dá dtugann siad grá, chomh maith leis an iliomad daoine eile inár sochaí a bhféadfadh fíorthacaíocht phraiticiúil a bheith ag teastáil uathu.

Is mian liom buíochas ar leith a sheoladh do bhaill ár bhFórsaí Cosanta atá thar lear an Nollaig seo agus iad scartha dá thoradh sin óna dteaghlaigh, go speisialta iad siúd atá ar dualgas sa Liobáin; is dea-shampla iad den chuid is fearr den Éireannachas agus de luachanna na tíre seo agus iad ag cur na síochána chun cinn, ag cosaint cuid de na daoine is fulangaí inár dteaghlach comhroinnte domhanda.

Is sampla a gcuid oibre – agus íobairtí a gcuid teaghlach a cheadaíonn é – don phobal idirnáisiúnta ar fad, an chuid is cumhachtaí de san áireamh.

Sna coinníollacha ina mairimid sa bhliain 2024, ní leor agus níl sé inghlactha go morálta go ngéillfimis gan seasamh a thógáil in aghaidh an iliomad géarchéimeanna atá fite fuaite ina chéile ar fud an domhain mhóir – éiginnteacht bia, míchothú agus ocras domhanda, éifeachtaí an athraithe aeráide agus chaillteanas na bithéagsúlachta, an bhochtaineacht dhomhanda agus an

mí-chothromaíocht atá ag dul i dtreise, chomh maith leis an gcaoi a bhfuil tús áite ag an ullmhúchán don chogaíocht seachas ag an tsíocháin i ngnáthchomhrá an lae.

Is rómhaith atáimid ar fad ar an eolas an Nollaig seo go bhfuil uafáis fhíochmhara na cogaíochta ag brú ar ár dteaghlach domhanda, rud atá ag cothú laghdú leanúnach ar chearta an tsaoránaigh agus ag cur méadú síoraí ar dhíbirt as baile an phobail.

Ag deireadh na bliana seo, smaoinímid ar gach duine a bheidh ag cuimhneamh siar ar na himeachtaí uafásacha sin a tharla le gairid – na hionsaithe uafásach ar shibhialtaigh, daoine á bhfuadach mar ghialla san áireamh, iadsan atá fágtha faoi imní fós ag fanacht le scéala faoi shábháilteacht a muintire. Agus an tráth seo agus mé ag labhairt libh, cuireann bás an oiread sin daoine leochaileacha i gcuimhne dúinn an fhreagairt a bhí i gceist, freagairt a sháraigh gach teorainn den dlí daonnúil.

Tugann an tost ó chuid mhór de na daoine sin a bhfuil tionchar acu, ag am go bhfuil sárú ar scála ollmhór ar chearta an duine faoi lán seoil, cead a gcinn dóibh sin atá ag gearradh ollphionós comhchoiteann gan náire ar shibhialtaigh, gorta san áireamh, gorta atá ag dul i bhfeidhm thar aon ní eile agus muid ag caint, ar mhná agus ar pháistí go speisialta.
Gorta domhain atá sa chinniúint anois i mbliana ag pobal iomlán Gaza, lárionad fulaingthe do leanaí agus dá dteaghlaigh, dóibh siúd san Úcráin a bhfuil 1,000 lá de chogaíocht fulaingthe acu, agus do phobal na Súdáine, áit a bhfuil 25 milliún acu – níos mó ná leath den daonra – i mbaol ó ocras an ghorta.

Agus na coinníollacha seo go léir á gcur san áireamh againn, tá sé riachtanach go gcuirfeadh ceachtanna pianmhara na staire agus ár ndóchas don todhchaí ina luí orainn móriarracht a dhéanamh dul sa tóir ar bhonn práinneach ar dhomhan ina mbeadh ceannas ag an taidhleoireacht ar an ullmhúchán gan stad don chogaíocht, áit a mbeadh an t-éileamh ar shíocháin mar chuspóir comhroinnte le macalla i bhfad níos láidre ná mar atá anois agus é i gcroílár an nuacht laethúil.

Domhan lán le héagsúlacht, áit a mbeadh meas ar shábháilteacht agus ar dhínit gach duine – sin an dóchas agus an t-ullmhúchán is fearr dúinn le haghaidh saol freagrach agus inbhuanaithe i dteannta a chéile ar ár bpláinéad leochaileach.

Nuair a labhair mé ag Cruinniú Mullaigh na Náisiún Aontaithe ar an Todhchaí den Náisiún Aontaithe i Nua-Eabhrac i mí Mheán Fómhair, labhair mé faoin inchreidteacht, faoin gcaoi a dteastaíonn, i bhfianaise na ngéarchéimeanna cónasctha práinneacha atá romhainn, go n-aimseofaí arís an nasc atá caillte idir beart agus briathar agus go dtarraingeofaí arís ar mhaitheas na n-uaireanta sin a raibh gealladh fúthu le muinín a chothú mar a tharla in 2015.

Ba ansin a chuir muid le chéile Clár Oibre 2030 na Náisiún Aontaithe agus na Spriocanna Forbartha Inbhuanaithe, treoirphlean comónta don tsíocháin agus don fhorbairt dhaonna a d’aithin torthaí an athraithe aeráide agus a chothaigh dóchas maidir le saol inbhuanaithe.

Is dúshlán mór dúinn na fíricí go bhfuil ag éirí linn i bhfad níos lú de na spriocanna sin a bhaint amach ná mar a bhí geallta againn. Nílimid ar an mbóthar ceart inniu ach i gcás 17 faoin gcéad de na Spriocanna Forbartha Inbhuanaithe. Dul chun cinn “an-bheag nó measartha” atá á dhéanamh i gcás leath de na 17 sprioc, agus tá breis is an tríú cuid “ina stad nó ag dul ar gcúl.”

Caithfimid an cheist seo a chur orainn féin, mar cheannairí idirnáisiúnta: conas is féidir linn go gcuireann an domhan dóthain beatha ar fáil chun beagnach 8 mbilliún duine a chothú, ach, fós féin, go raibh leibhéal contúirteach de mhórocras ag bagairt ar 282 milliún duine ar fud na cruinne anuraidh?

Tugann Éirinn tacaíocht don Chomhaontas Domhanda i gcoinne an Ocrais agus na Bochtaineachta, tionscnamh de chuid Uachtarán na Brasaíle, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Táimid ag maireachtáil freisin – agus is cúis imní é – trí neamhionannas forleathan agus domhain atá ag déanamh scrios agus ag fágáil a rian féin ar an domhan. Ní raibh riamh roimhe seo an oiread sin daoine ann a raibh a laghad sin acu agus, os a choinne sin, a laghad sin ann a raibh oiread saibhris carntha acu gan freagracht ar bith a bheith orthu.

Dearbhaím arís an achainí láidir agus phráinneach atá déanta agam go dtacóimis ar fad leis na Náisiúin Aontaithe ionas gur féidir linn ár ngealltanais i leith na Spriocanna Forbartha Inbhuanaithe a chomhlíonadh.

Tá sé mar thoradh ar an teip maidir le síocháin a bhaint amach, deireadh a chur le bochtaineacht agus ocras domhanda agus ar na hiarmhairtí a bhaineann leis an athrú aeráide agus caillteanas na bithéagsúlachta go bhfuiltear fillte ar an iomaíocht armála agus ar dhomhan a thugann brabach d’infheisteoirí in uirlisí báis seachas an inbhuanaitheacht a chur chun cinn.

Nach náireach an staitistic é mar mhéadaigh an caiteachas míleata domhanda 6.8 faoin gcéad in 2023, é tar éis ardú i ngach réigiún go dtí móriomlán de $2,443 billiún, an caiteachas is airde riamh. Agus seo ar fad ag tarlú ag tráth go bhfuiltear ag impí go dtabharfaí aitheantas do luachanna daonna.

Nuair a chuirtear i láthair agus nuair a ghlactar le cogaí agus coimhlintí mar nithe nach bhfuil deireadh i ndán dóibh, mar atá ag tarlú faoi láthair, is é an cine daonna a bhíonn thíos leis. Ní cuid dhílis den daonnacht í an chogaíocht agus dá mba ea, b’ionann é agus teip an duine dhaonna mar chine.

Tá sé in am anois do na pobail sin go léir labhairt amach agus impí ar thíortha an domhain atá ag éileamh saol síochánta, saol inbhuanaithe, saol níos cothroime a bheadh bunaithe ar na Spriocanna Forbartha Inbhuanaithe, teacht le chéile, a gcás a dhéanamh agus na bearta a bhrú chun cinn a chuirfeadh bunús fírinneach domhanda faoi na spriocanna ríthábhachtacha seo.

Agus muid ag ceiliúradh shéasúr seo na Nollag, cibé áit ina bhfuilimid agus i cibé cúinsí ina mairimid, guím gur tréimhse í a bheidh lán de cineáltas, tuiscint, cúram agus meas ar a chéile.

Bímis ar fad buíoch, ar bhealach speisialta, de gach duine atá ag obair inár

n-ospidéil agus inár seirbhísí éigeandála, dóibh siúd atá ag freastal ar riachtanais na ndaoine gan dídean, iadsan atá leochaileach nó imeallaithe, agus do gach duine a thugann oiread sin dá Nollaig féin go fial flaithiúil chun freastal ar riachtanais daoine eile.

Ba mhaith liom an deis seo a thapú freisin chun buíochas a ghabháil leis an oiread sin agaibh a chuir teachtaireachtaí dea-mhéine maidir lenár sláinte chuig Saidhbhín agus chugam féin níos luaithe i mbliana – beidh an bheirt againn fíorbhuíoch go deo as bhur gcineáltas agus as an misneach a thug sibh dúinn.

D’fhéadfaimis agus muid ag druidim le deireadh na bliana 2024 smaoineamh ar go leor cuimhní geala ach tá ceann speisialta ar leith a mhairfidh ar feadh i bhfad inár gcuimhne – éachtaí de ár laochra Oilimpeacha agus Parailimpeacha a rinne ionadaíocht den scoth d’Éirinn i bPáras le linn an tsamhraidh.
I mo chéad teachtaireacht Nollag, sa bhliain 2011, dúirt mé “gur tír í a raibh mórán againn le bheith bródúil aisti; gur tír í a raibh féidearthachtaí breise fós le baint amach agus le cur i gcrích aici, agus gur tír í gur mhór an onóir dom seirbhís a thabhairt dá pobal”.
Agus anois is mé ag díriú ar an 14ú bliain agus an bhliain dheireanach mar Uachtarán na hÉireann, onóir agus pribhléid mhór mo shaoil fós é fónamh ar mhuintir na hÉireann. Tá mé ag súil go mór le leanúint den chúram seo i rith na bliana atá amach romhainn.
Le linn mo théarmaí mar Uachtarán, fuair mé féin agus Saidhbhín blaiseadh agus tuiscint ar chineáltas agus ar chairdeas an phobail sa bhaile agus thar sáile.
Chonaic muid mianach na ndaoine, an chomhbhá, an chruthaitheacht, an dáimh agus an cheanúlacht ar an oiread sin bealaí i measc an phobail. Táimid fíorbhuíoch as sin agus fanfaidh sé linn go deo.
Mar sin, agus grianstad an gheimhridh linn, an lá is giorra den bhliain, féachaimis chun cinn le dóchas, smaoinímis ar ár leochaileachtaí comhroinnte an Nollaig seo, agus rún daingean againn dlúthpháirtíochtaí nua a chothú agus inspioráid á fáil againn ó theachtaireacht bhuan dóchais an tséasúir seo.
Guím féin agus Saidhbhín Nollaig shona agus athbhliain shíochánta ar mhuintir na hÉireann ar fad.
Nollaig shona daoibh is beirigí gach beannacht don athbhliain is don todhchaí. ”

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