President Michael D Higgins has defended staying in a luxurious five-star hotel where the top suites can cost €3,000 a night, saying he doesn’t make arrangements for such overnights.

Speaking as he launched his reelection campaign, Mr Higgins said it is the job of the Department of Foreign Affairs to decide where he stays.

He cited security and other reasons for why certain hotels are chosen - but noted that he is not consulted in advance.

“I never asked to stay in a particular hotel,” he said, adding that over the decades he has “stayed in hostels, I’ve stayed in tents. I’ve stayed in difficult circumstances all over the world.”

Independent.ie previously put several questions to The Office of the President about Mr Higgins's stay in Geneva.

The office confirmed Mr Higgins travelled to Geneva to speak at an event hosted by the International Labour Organisation but refused to comment on claims by Senator Gerard Craughwell that he stayed in a top suite in a hotel that boasts a Michelin Star restaurant and €3,000-a-night rooms named after composers, actresses and French politicians.

Questioned on the special €317,000 fund that is given over to the Áras every year but goes unaudited, Mr Higgins said he uses it for garden parties and to host foreign dignitaries.

He said since the 1930s, the fund had helped presidents “define his time in the Aras in his own way”.

However, Mr Higgins committed to find a way of releasing more information about how the money is used if that is what people want.

He said without the money that “you’d have a very different role for the president”.

Mr Higgins also called on his opponents for Áras an Uachtaráin to engage in a clean campaign as he launched his re-election bid.

The incumbent has this evening said he offers “experience” and “authenticity” - but promised a “modern and energetic” campaign.

Mr Higgins (77) said he decided to run for a second term after speaking to many people around Ireland.

In 2011 he promised to only serve for seven years - but now wants to build on his work over that period.

Acknowledging the five other candidates in the race - Sean Gallagher, Gavin Duffy, Liadh Ní Riada, Peter Casey and Joan Freeman - he called for a “respectful campaign which my supporters and I will work to sustain the dignity of the office of President, which belongs not to any individual, but the present and future citizens of Ireland”.

Mr Higgins said he will use the days up to voting on October 26 to set out his renewed vision for Ireland. His slogan will be ‘A President For Us All’.

On Brexit, Mr Higgins said people have spoken to him about the uncertainty it will bring, “about the fragility of our international systems and shared planet”.

“They believe that Ireland’s voice can and must matter in a difficult global landscape,” he said.

“I am offering myself as a candidate because I am passionate about the challenges and possibilities in the coming years.

“I believe that together we can help Ireland to achieve its potential as a real republic, one where everyone can participate equally in the shaping of sustainable communities and new ideas.

“The Presidency plays an important role in bringing together the many threads that weave the past, present and future of our nation. The President is also a voice for Ireland in the world.”

His campaign will be based on four themes:

Equal and together

Strong, stable communities

Shaping history, shaping the future

And Ireland’s voice matters

Mr Higgins laughed off questions about whether his age should influence voters, replying that people judge his “cognitive capacity”.

“I knew some people who were very ancient people when they were chronically very young.

"My health is excellent insofar as any of us can say. I’m very fit.

"I have much more fitness and energy than I had in 2011 because I got my knee done. I don't drink, I don't smoke and I have a yoga teacher," he said.

President Michael D Higgins has also dismissed claims from an election opponent that the timing of a security breach at the Áras was “a little bit of a coincidence” as “irresponsible”.

The president was speaking to RTÉ Drivetime programme who are carrying interviews with each of the six candidates today.

Separate investigations are underway into a security breach in the presidential residence on Friday September 14, when a woman in her 50s drove through the front gate and confronted Mr Higgins in his office.

Speaking as he lodged his nomination papers in the Customs House former Dragon’s Den investor Peter Casey bizarrely suggested that the timing of the breach was a “little bit of a coincidence”.

Today Mr Higgins said he did not understand what was meant by Mr Casey’s comments and said it was “irresponsible”.

“I rarely comment but quite frankly it’s irresponsible to be thinking that I as president would be operating some kind of.... I don’t want to use the language that the person to whom it is attributed used," he said.

Mr Higgins said he was “very happy” to speak to the woman but refused to say what was discussed out of respect for her.

Online Editors