A clear mandate for our new President

The new 'President for all the people', Michael D Higgins, will enter Aras an Uachtarain on 11th November having received an overwhelming mandate from across the country on his way to a comprehensive victory in last week's presidential election.

It has been quite a journey for the 70 year-old Mr Higgins who began his political odyssey as a left-wing radical and human rights activist in the 1970s, and now completes that journey as a widely-liked and respected elder statesman, poet, academic and orator upon whom the Irish people have bestowed the highest honour in the land.

The departing President Mary McAleese, in congratulating her successor at the weekend, remarked that his election victory marked the beginning of an exciting new chapter for this country. Indeed, filling the shoes of Mrs McAleese in itself will be a tall order, even for someone of the calibre of our new first citizen, but President-elect Higgins has pledged that during his tenure, he will be a President of ideas, inclusive citizenship, equality, participation and respect.

In a reference to the selfishness that often characterised the Celtic Tiger years in Ireland, he said he would like to see the country leaving behind the narrow individualism that valued the person most by what was assumed to be their accumulated wealth but which neglected the connection between the person and society, the community and the nation. "We must now work to our strengths at home and abroad, not only co-operatively and collectively, but sustainably for the benefit of all of our present generations and those to come," he said. He added that this was a necessary transformation and his presidency would built on turning creative possibilities into living realities for all the Irish people.

Mr Higgins is someone who has shown a passionate commitment to social justice and human rights and has often been a voice for the oppressed and disadvantaged. It is to be expected that he will put these values at the core of his seven-year term at Aras an Uachtarain. His breadth of vision is likely to see him throw open the doors of his Phoenix Park residence to the poets, writers and arts community of Ireland. In the same way as Presidents Robinson and McAleese redefined the role of Ireland's Presidents, our new head of state will undoubtedly make his own unique mark on this office.

In the final analysis and after the last few years of political and financial turmoil, the people of the country chose a safe pair of hands to be their new President, remaining unconvinced by entrepreneur and star of 'Dragon's Den', Sean Gallagher, and saying they were not ready to see former IRA commander Martin McGuinness take up residence in the Phoenix Park. While there did appear to be an appetite for independent candidates, as so often happens, the prize went to an experienced politician after a stunning reversal of fortune for the opinion poll leader Gallagher over his links to Fianna Fail in the final days of the hard-fought campaign.

By any measure, it was a remarkable end to the election campaign. With the presidency within touching distance at the start of last week, Gallagher's carefully crafted message began to unravel in the most spectacular fashion as the trigger was pulled on a Sinn Fein-laid ambush over fundraising for Fianna Fail. Suddenly, on live television, confronted with evidence of fundraising for a party blamed for much of our current troubles - and having previously denied being involved - the front runner's lustre began to fade rapidly and several hundred thousand voters switched allegiance to Michael D Higgins in the dying days of the campaign.

This election more than any other has underscored the current volatility among the electorate as huge swathes of voters decided to switch allegiance in the last few days of the campaign. It also showed that many out there have ditched the notion of party loyalty and are being independently-minded when exercising their franchise, certainly when it comes to picking a President.

However, one of the most striking aspects of this election has been the role of the media in driving the agenda - and not just social media, but the traditional print and broadcast media. Newspapers and television always have had a decisive influence on the outcome of elections, but the notion that one live television debate ultimately decided the outcome of this campaign is, even by modern-day standards, pretty incredible. Candidates for high office in the future will need to tread warily as the realisation hits home that one slip-up on live television or radio could be enough to hole their stage-managed campaigns below the waterline.