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MICHAEL D HIGGINS has never been a man to mince his words and that trait has continued even since becoming Uachtaráin na hÉireann. But President Higgins now has a new head to bounce ideas off in the form of his new head speech writer, Aziliz Gouez.
Gouez sounds like she is certainly equipped for the high-profile role with two masters degrees to her name, research experience in Cambridge as well as six-years in a Paris-based think-tank as head of research.
President Higgins won’t be the first diminutive head of state she’s worked for either having previously worked in the the constituency office of current French President François Hollande when he was leader of the French Socialist Party.
She’ll be familiar with the repetitive economic rhetoric that goes with Irish politics these days as her last position involved researching the Irish sovereign debt crisis at Cambridge University.
But Gouez also sounds like she could give President Higgins some cultured advice about what to offer guests at Áras, having authored a 2007 book on the the history of Europeans with wine. In an interview with Time Magazine a number of years ago Gouez also offered visitors to Paris advice on places to eat and drink suggesting President Higgins and his wife Sabine have got themselves a bit of a foodie as well as a highly qualified wordsmith.
Gouez was appointed to the €65,000-a-year position for a three-year period after an open recruitment process conducted through the Public Appointments Service.
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The President acts under very tight Constitutional constraints. Speeches are typically drafted long in advance, with many people and organisations consulted, and then filtered through the appropriate Government channels for clearance while being finessed. Writing Presidential speeches is therefore a complex and detailed assignment balancing many conflicting agendas while attempting to say something meaningful. The President delegates a large amount of this difficult work to a skilled writer, given that the number of these that need to be delivered daily in the course of the President’s duties can be substantial.
The fanciful idea that the President can just give an extempore Lincolnesque oration numerous times a day at every different event he could attend is far removed from the realities of his Office.
Time to dump the Presidency along with the Seanad then as we do not get any return from the money squandered on either.
“Gouez was appointed to the €65,000-a-year position”
And people wonder why we are broke?
Believe it or not that’s actually quite cheap given her education and experience.
Plus she’ll only receive approx. €42k after tax.
That’s €810/week to make sure our president, and representative of the Irish people to the world, doesn’t sound like an imbecile.
We are broke because of bad economic and financial policy.
I agree, we should get one for our Taoisigh as well
Cheap me ar*e, what does he do all day that he can’t write his own guff ?
”to make sure our president, and representative of the Irish people to the world, doesn’t sound like an imbecile.”
so now we have to employ someone to make sure that the person elected to this post is not an imbecile – . No – he is not – but the people who elected him are .
He funked it when he had the chance to make a difference – and now he talks – and talks .
I assume you are unaware the President has a very packed diary, travelling to several events each day, where he is expected to make a speech at each one. Some speeches are short and repeat things said elsewhere, whilst others are more detailed and lengthy. It would be impossible for one person to write all their own speeches and address the broad spectrum of issues in detail required.
No amount of qualified speech writers could stop Edna sounding like an imbecile.
As Morticia as kindly brought our attention to the fact that some people are apparently wondering why we are broke, let me say to them that we will stop at nothing to search under every rock in Ireland for those who have been resident there since 2008.
What a fake little man. Pretends to be a man of the people yet never stands up for them and gets paid hundreds of thousands every year for doing f all, pays someone 65,000 a year to write HIS speeches. Shame on Irish people for putting up with these leeches. No wonder your country is gone.
You Aideen are a fool. This is 2013. The President has a very busy schedule with several speeches a day. It is perfectly sensible that he have a speech writer.
He’s not fake in the least… The Dail is full of fakes, but Michael D sure is not, he really does have our backs, but unfortunately as president he can’t do a whole lot about it, he is our representative to the world and I believe has spoke well on our behalf, even out of turn, which he isn’t really allowed to do, but he did it anyway, and was probably seriously berated for it afterwards.
As for hiring a speech writer… Don’t any of you realise that every president and Taoiseach has had a speech writer in some form or another, my uncle used to write speeches for two former Taoiseach and both the Mary’s, at one time or another, and getting paid a whole lot more than 65k! Same policy in every other country also for gods sake! Why do think they sound like complete muppets on Vincent brown…? If there’s any sort of prearranged formal public address by either the Taoiseach, the President or even one of the ministers, you can bet they didn’t write it!
He does really have our backs? Explain please?
So much for Ireland, the Land of Saints and Scholars, of which our President has spoken about so fondly in his previous speeches.
He was unable to find a speech writer in this country – he decided that it was better to choose a French academic whose first language is not English.
I assume you read his “poem” about the donkey? The man is an imbecile, like his colleagues.
I disagree with you, Aideen.
I like Michael D. and I think he is a very competent statesman.
I actually think he is a great speaker and extremely well read on world politics, human rights issues, etc..
If he is too busy to write his own speeches, then it is acceptable for him to hire a speech writer.
My only issue is this:
with so much unemployment, recession, etc., going on in this country at the moment – why did he have to go to France to pick a suitable speech writer when there are universities full of talented English Literature graduates on his own doorstep?
Having said all that, I’m absolutely baffled by the red thumbs on my last comment!
They didn’t “go” to France to pick someone. As the article says, the position was openly advertised, therefore anyone could have applied, yourself included, Dave. It just so happened that this woman was deemed the most suitable of those who applied, so she got it. Incidentally she happens to be French. What should her nationality have to do with the application process?
I take your point, Dennis, and you’re right – I missed the last line in the article.
I had incorrectly assumed that she was headhunted because of her past experience as Hollande’s speech writer.
As it happens, I would probably not be a good candidate for the job as I don’t pay enough attention to detail!
Maybe she will be able to curtail the length and content of his speeches, could be money well spent
President Seán Gallagher could have employed a team of speech writers as part of his job creation plans…
….Seeing as he hadn’t created any jobs anywhere else in all his time as a sefl-proclaimed ‘entrepreneur’!
Michael D Higgins DOG would have been a better president than that absolute waffler Fianna Fáil gobsh!te
They could at least have given the job to an Irish person.
Why?
Yes, why?
What a daft comment.
This man makes me feel sick
Read his donkey “poem” You will understand why he needs a speech writer and why your country is considered a joke for idolizing these imbecilic leeches
Gone are the days when the president wrote his or her speeches while pissed…. At least then the words sounded colourful ….
I could’ve done that job. I have lots of wine and lots of ZZZZs…
I’ve really just not warmed to Michael d still can’t see what all the election fuss was about with regards to him, suppose he was the best out of a bad lot. He’s no Mary anyway!
€65k to write speeches to a President who waffles and has mastered the art of shocked indignation from burnt toast to raised bogs.
Thought a man of his intelligence would
be able to write his own… It always sounds better coming from the heart….
Well off you go there then and write 7-8 speeches for each day and manage to deliver them and do all your other duties. Even reading and correcting speeches (including making additions) can add 2-3 hours to the day
He’d have to have one first Louise. I find it hard to believe people lap up the drivel this guy throws out
Get a grip folks, the country is top heavy with passengers and not enough crew, time to heave the lot of them and get a committee of 12 to run the place. A quick glance at our charming public representives on the journal today should set alarm bells ringing but then the number of comments supporting them shows that we are getting what we deserve.
Its ridiculous that presidents or prime ministers dont write their own speech.we should be hearing what they really think rather than what speech writers and advisors make them say.amazing how the higher paid jobs seem to include babysitters with them.
Do you think Barack Obama writes all his speeches? Do you actually have a clue how statesmanship operates or are you just venting.
Of course he doesn’t write his own speeches but why shouldn’t he?why shouldn’t men or women who are deemed capable of running or representing countries be expected to pen their own speeches.
That might make sense if he was leader of a country the size of Liechtenstein, but being president of 4.5 million people means he has to do numerous public engagements daily and make several speeches. It would not be possible to do it properly if senior politicians wrote all their own speeches, because everything else would fall away and they would be writing all day every day.
I’ll also hazard a guess you have never written a speech and don’t get that it is not just a short half hour at the kitchen table effort between the two halves of Corrie on a Monday night. If you want a good speech you must work on it
I understand your point and your right but my irritation with this is for example George bush who created a perception of being intelligent and competent when reading a script but we all realised the truth when he was let loose without words on paper.its not the actual writing of a speech that annoys me but rather the wording as it is not the words of the reader.basically I find political speeches false and heartless.
The Irish will not rest until the people in charge are payed less than them. Cop on idiots.
Excellent. Maybe in future his speeches will sound less like they were written by platitude generation software.
Then again, can anyone remember anything sensible Hollande has ever said?
Much rather see €65 going to…ooh, lets say, a few teachers, nurses, special ed assistants.
While I’m at it; we could then hire a lot more of same with the money we pay that odious little twerp Higgins to continue his decades long ride on the gravy train. So we can expect some more clever speeches to reach out to the common man eh? I seem to recall him and his ilk were very quiet during their time in opposition when they country was being sold down the swanny. I’d much prefer him to step back into obscurity again.
It is ironic that millions of Irish people over the years have not been able to work for the Irish Government because of lack of fluency in Irish and then our Irish speaking President hires a speechwriter whose first language is French and whose second language is English. Michael D is perfectly capable of writing his own brilliant if very long speeches. He should get a grip on himself.
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