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IT WAS THE fulfilment of a lifelong dream… and we’re sure Michael D Higgins was fairly chuffed to meet Pelé too at a business event in Mexico yesterday.
At a business fathering in Guadalajara the President spoke about Ireland’s economic recovery.
But as a keen soccer man and ceremonial president of Galway United, Higgins took time out for a quick chat and a photo op with the Brazilian football superstar who is considered to be among the game’s greatest ever.
President Higgins was on the third day of his 12-day official visit to Mexico, El Salvador and Costa Rica.
He departs for El Salvador today before travelling to Costa Riva on Saturday. The President and his wife conclude their trip to Central American on Thursday week.
Photos: Chris Bellew /Copyright Fennell Photography 2013
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His job is partly to meet with foreign dignitaries and promote Ireland abroad, stop whining and let him get on with it. Every photo of the president doesn’t have to become a moaning fest about junkets etc.
Promote Ireland abroad lol
Michael D is a hero , I doubt there’s a person around that could say a bad word about him !
I’ve 3…. Senile old fool
How is “old” a bad word?
So you’d rather be an OLD coffin dodger than in your 20s??
If he was a President of the people he would have been standing with the pensioners outside the Dáil yesterday
You obviously haven’t read the comments on hear then!
Haven to say they’re nice pictures and President Higgins looks quite star-struck (in the nicest sense of the phrase).
That smile has set me up for the day!
I would not say a bad word about him, but I am very disappointed in how quiet he has been since taking office, he dips his toes in certain matters like banking and poverty but then disappears, I like the idea of him visiting every primary school in Ireland but what must he think as he pulls up in his big Mercedes and sees all the children waiting excitedly to see him, then when he drives off and thinks 1 in 5 of those children have went to school hungry, what must he think
Danny, considering the nature of his role as President he has actually been resounding. Far more than any other president we have ever had really. If anything he says a bit too much than the President really should.
You are right, but I feel he is in a position to do more
Michael D is a hero? What is wrong with you, why is he a hero? The man is costing us 8 million a year, his salary alone is 250,000. He writes really, really bad poetry about donkeys, he doesn’t do anything else of worth, he is a complete BS artist, as bad as the other parasites that surround him and swans around the world on tax payers money like a King with a personal chef in 5 star hotels. You doubt any person has a bad word to say about him, have you been living under a rock??? Have you seen the recent articles here about him?
How is he costing us 8 million a year? He waves 23.5% of his salary which puts him on about 170,000 a year which is a pretty high wage but then again he is president of an entire nation. I’m sorry you don’t like his poetry but how does him writing it make him a “BS artist” exactly? And he’s not “swanning” around the world, he’s a head of state visiting another nation to promote Ireland which is something that needs to be done.
Someone obviously voted for Sean Gallagher. Although you seem to have so slight an understanding of the purpose of the office of President that I doubt you actually voted.
Senile? He’s not.
Old? What has that got to do with anything?
Fool? He nobody’s fool.
You on the other hand? That statement speaks volumes.
What are you on about?
What is the purpose of the Irish presidency Marc? Use your brain, I don’t want to hear any sound bites or spin about attracting business, Although considering I am so vocal about the Irish presidency being a complete waste of money, yet you think I voted for Sean Gallagher…I’m not expecting anything intelligent from you, so go back and wave your jingoistic little presidents flag. When you know of one, just one, business that has come to Ireland because of this parasite and fraud, let me know
A small island of 4.5 million people, with a president that gets paid more than the president of Russia in a house that puts the white house to shame. And, in a recession, we have backward parish pump politics cheerleaders like yer man here defending it….only in Ireland :(
@Marc, the sum of 250,000 is after the reduction, he was on 298,000
@Angela,
I agree that Ireland does not need a President, in fact I believe that the 3 tier structure is too much, and ludicrously expensive to be sustainable.
This country of ours should be run akin to a successful business, reward achievers, fire the incompetent, all expenses should be vouched.
Is Pele still doing those viagra ads?
No, it’s just a gun in his pocket
Funny, that was exactly my thought when I saw the first photo. Clearly been seeing too much homoerotica lately.
Pele can keep it up for hours, keepy uppys!
I thought he was just happy to meet the President.
@Cant be stopped , Senile old fool who will achieve more in his life that you will ya spa
Who says ‘spa’ anymore…what an idiot you are, the stereotypical Irish backward village idiot who adores politicans
As a fellow Irish backwards village idiot I find that offensive! :-)
Sorry Fergal :D
We will lodge an offical complaint with the union of Irish backward village idiots about this discrimination.
Micheal d Hernandez is probably getting salsa lessons later on while the wife is getting a Brazilian.
You are so funny. That was said in a very dry sarcastic monotone voice inside my head as I typed it with my thumb. Amazing.
Perk of the job I suppose? We’ll call it just that and the trip a junket…..
Would you rather we became more like North Korea and locked ourselves away. Think of mr Higgins as a traveling sales man.
I agree. Would love to know what he is selling though.
For the first time since he was elected I recognize, that he’s not just a nice balanced kind of scholar with a pleasant personality. No, he’s a representative who has the intellectual and social skills- these too polished with humor and humility – that are vital to this job of representing a state. Yippee!! Most important I think is; that he is really what he seems to be (lumps and all).
There was really, really stupid brainwashed spin puppets here telling us the other day that he is securing massive trade and business deals for Ireland….
lol
A French academic writes all of his speeches. The same lady gets the questions of every interview in advance and prepares the appropriate responses. President Higgins own most intellectual contribution to date has been a poem about a donkey. How much social skills do you need to be able to shake hands, nod your head and smile. Good old backward Ireland is alive and well, the most gullible electorate in the western world.
IOW a pain in the arse,always trying to get a foot in the door to sell you crap you dont need???
Amazing stuff Angela. Your words show the difference between learned (wisdom) and learning (gathering information). You just saw by the way how hard it can be to change the structure of the State (Senate abolition). The current incumbent was elected in accordance with the present structures. He worked for untold years before this as a councillor, community activist and teacher. He is a people’s man and this quality is what got him into the Aras. If you think the structure that puts him there is wrong then why the anger directed at this activist Scholar made President?
Sending the president on trade and cultural missions like this really can help Ireland Inc. abroad. Foreign businesses and governments appreciate the respect and effort shown by dispatching a head of state to glad hand and make nice. This isn’t a junket; this is an important function of a modern ceremonial presidency.
lol….yeah, I can’t wait to see how many businesses are going to come. Can you be really so naive to believe the spin about all that nonsense? Name one, ONE, business or multi national that has ever come to Ireland on the back of shaking hands and listening to some scripted one size fits all Irish presidential speech? Come on ….. name one, surely they would have been more happy to publicise it and the spin drs would have out it all over the media to condone the disgustingly high salary of the Irish president! Google ‘basic principles of business’ and learn what really motivates them relocating to countries, or do you think the worlds greatest multinationals are lured by donkey poems?
Don’t hold back Angela ,great to see someone say it like it is, why are you not in politics
Get back in the kitchen and stop talking out your arse.
Good man Patrick, I’m guessing you have been single a very long time
No actually I have not. This is a sports thread. Don’t need to be reading Angela’s depressing bile.
I don’t believe you. This is not a ‘sports’ thread, you are confusing this with ‘The Score’ section of this website. I don’t find anything she says as depressing, but Irish people don’t like the truth and get very insecure when someone tells it how it is. I don’t think our president is a bad person, he just happens to be in the best job in the world
Pele: Left poverty and became a legendary footballer. Michael D: Left Socialism and became a rich International junketeer. (btw where’s MDH’s little sidekick Joe Costello hiding?)
Higgins will make more money in a year than the best footballer ever made in his career go figure
Angela did you actually read any of the articles on the visit regarding the deals signed for companies trading between Ireland and Mexico while the President is on this trip? Clearly you have just waded in here without having done your research!
“A business fathering in Guadajara”? Either a typo or Pele was selling viagra there for sure.
Great typo!
Pele: Wow!, 3 clubs in Galway, it must be be a huge city with a large football following.
Micky D: Umm yes quite so, I would invite you to come have a look but you know premium seat tickets are very hard to get.
Of course the name Pelé came from “peile” so the least he could do is send over a few young Brazilian players- if we are ever going to make it to the World Cup. :)
More important than, for the most part, the begrudges above, I hope they discussed the possibility of the most famous name in world football being derived from the Irish word for football, ‘peil’. Pele was schooled by Irish nuns around the time this name stuck with him. Interesting.
Ah lord
This man makes me sick, as does the country that supports this. A 12 day bloody holiday in South America, 5 star hotels, meeting celebrities, with his own private ‘executive chef’ and wife following him having the time of their lives drinking champagne. On top of the 250,000 salary he gets, the mansion, the 50 odd staff and 1,000,000 in expenses, and we have backward Irish fools here defending it all!!! No wonder we are laughed at abroad, we deserve it…..sick
He’s the President Angela. Look it up. You strike me as very backward.
Why, because I am not a media/spin brainwashed little puppet who thinks this fraud actually has any meaningful role or provides any real servitude to Ireland. I am backward because I think a small island of 4.5 million people, in a recession, can do much better with the 8 million euro a year it costs to keep this waste of office in motion?
Name one Irish multinational or business this man or his predecessor attracted to Ireland, just one. I suggest you attend a business course or google ‘basic business principles’ before you make a fool of yourself in front of me.
You strike me as a fool, unfortunately you are not alone on this small island…you seem to be the majority
@angela – if you are so disgusted with the state of affairs in Ireland, from the president down, then why dont you just leave. Or better still – use all that time you’ve spent posting bitching comments on the journal and do sometime worthwhile with it like getting off your a$$.
Duh…the usual backward village idiots universal response. The one size fits all retort…”Uhn Uh if you don’t like it leave! uhu uhu”
I’m actually living quite a fulfilled life in Geneva Switzerland.
What have you done with your life other than spend the last 4 hours of a wednesday afternoon moaning on thejournal.ie
Why on earth would you feel the need to tell me you don’t live in Ireland? I said you are a village idiot, are you suggesting because you are able to book a flight and relocate in Switzerland that you have achieved something exceptional in your life? Now your intellectual prowess and psychological powers of evaluation can decipher and measure a pensioners life on a screen! I suspect I have achieved a lot more in life than you little man
Silly little housewife with nothing better to do on a wednesday afternoon..
What a retort! And they say our best and brightest have emigrated, I beg to differ in your case. Switzerland can have you, I suspect your greatest achievement to date is being a complete plonker being owned by a 69 yr old!
Jeez Angela. ‘Owned’. Nice Americanisms there. I was giving you the benefit of the doubt because I thought you were in your teens. You’re 69 and you behave like that?Going on about ‘owning’ someone. Why don’t you list all these wonderful achievements that you’ve accomplished. You are the one making a fool of yourself. Quit while you’re ahead ya troll.
@Fergal calling people a ‘troll’ because you can’t reply to them is pretty lame. If someones definition of being ‘owned’ is being outwitted by someone seemingly more articulate who is sufficiently able to debate their points and defend themselves on a screen… then it would seem this feisty lad did indeed “own” both of you
@Pauric less of the sexist crap, you are demeaning yourself and only reinforcing Angela’s points
@cecilia @pauric amazing the number of mysogenists on the journal. Why would housewife be used as a pejorative word? Smacks of gender profiling by men who feel threatened by women.
Sorry may june but any person who attacks a persons opinion by insinuating they are a “stereotypical backward Irish village idiot”, who despite claiming to love the Irish but at the same time dubb them “the most dumbed down electorate” in europe – should not be so emotionally fagile to a piece of muck thrown at them. All this lady seems to do on the journal(for hours a day) is moan moan moan, instead of getting off her ass and doing something.
And if she is not a housewife and is in employment someplace then the time she spends on the journal is a waste of her employers time and part of the reason why Ireland has become uncompetitive on an international level- one of the thing Mickey D might be trying to recover through his ambassadorship.
Angela I’ll try again. It’s not about the donkey poems. It’s about cultural exchanges. It’s about moving people at an emotional level too, to support ones own position. It’s also called networking. It means cooperating with others and it demands integrity of thought, calm and yes humility and sincerity. The financial aspect alone or the fact that he has a private Chef with him (which seems to be your main ‘gripe’) isn’t really that relevant. How much money did the Irish football fans bring out of the country when they attended the Ireland vs Germany match? The bigger question might be: what did they bring back? Have a few of them made experiences along the way that may result in rich rewards in the future for themselves and others? Ok the state is low on cash now, but we’re not in the Middle Ages anymore or for that matter in Round Towers: we can’t just pull up the ladder and wait for the other guy to run out of time. I call these thoughts of yours pseudo intellectualism. It describes symptoms and calls them cause and because of the unreliability of the conclusions that are reached, you start beating the air in frustration.
Well put Jimmy
He slips a Viagra in Mickey’s pocket….
Hah! Michael D makes Pele look tall!
Why is President Higgins wasting Irish Taxpayers money on wasteful unnecessary foreign travel!
Mexico, El Salvador and Costa Rica are not often visited by European Heads of State. Therefore his visit to those three countries will make a big impact and secure a very favourable image for Ireland there. Mexico is an emerging economic superpower which quite rightly is attracting investment and trade from and with Irish companies. It is a huge potential Market for Ireland. My wife, who was born in El Salvador, is now an Irish citizen and is very pleased that the President of Ireland is visiting the country of her birth. Michael D is well respected in El Salvador for his support for human rights and the peace process there which has parallels with our own peace process in Ireland. There is potential for trade and investment between Ireland and all three of these countries.
Didnt realise Pele was that short as well.
What is the North American Spokesman on erectile dysfunction doing to our president?!!!
The North American spokesman for erectile dysfunction is a hell of a lot more meaningful than being ‘Irish President’
Really Angela? How do you come to that conclusion?
One of the highest paid presidents in the world, of a small island in a recession, with no power or influence travels the world with his personal ‘executive’ chef reciting a poem about a donkey. Wasting millions of tax payers money on holidays and junkets pretending to be a poet and intellectual, shaking hands and repeating speeches wrote by others. On the other hand you have one of the greatest footballers that ever lived traveling the world helping make peoples willy’s function…
Jesus Angela, well you ever cheer up. You obviously haven’t a clue what your on about. Your starting to sound like someone that sits around and moans all day.
Stay positive my friend
Hi Barry. What exactly do I not understand about either the Irish political system or Irish presidency? I am someone with my own mind and freedom of thought, untainted or dumbed down by the media and pr spin. I am passionate about my people and country and the wrongs in Irish politics that I can not accept. Unlike you, who it seems is indifferent and dumbed down so much as to be beyond the point of caring. It’s people like you that allow our politicians to continue to laugh at us.
Best promotion fir Ireland is winning a soccer match !
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