PRESIDENT MICHAEL D Higgins have urged the people of Ireland to remain courageous during the “dark days” of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking in a special address to mark St Brigid’s Day, President Higgins said that while brighter, warmer days lay ahead, "the winter of the Covid pandemic is still upon us and continues".
The President acknowledged that the ongoing restrictions are a necessary part of the country’s fight against Covid-19 but nevertheless was aware of the “profound impact” they were having on so many and “some more than others”.
"The dark days of the pandemic will continue to challenge us for some time and, while lockdown fatigue is very real and palpable for so many, we must continue our journey within and muster up courage," the President said.
"Moving through such moments of darkness, it is important to celebrate the light that comes from our common determination to see out the challenge. Just as the seasons change, this crisis, too, will pass.
"As an old Caribbean song puts it: ‘Time heals everything.’ How long it will take and how high the price is that we will pay for it depends, to a large extent, on how we react today and, in the weeks, ahead," he added.
The President also took a moment to acknowledge the thousands of people who have died during the pandemic and the fact many were left without “the intimacy of their passing or the opportunity to grieve as they would wish”.
"Countless people too have seen their lives radically altered, their livelihoods curtailed and the social bonds, from which they drew comfort and joy, ruptured," he said.
"It is appropriate that we all pause to acknowledge the distress of all those for whom the pandemic has brought such pain and loss and all those who are now experiencing loneliness and isolation from the contacts with those who previously sustained them."
Turning his attention to St Brigid, Higgins called on the public to take inspiration from this “powerful woman” and patroness of healing, the arts, fertility and agriculture.
"St Brigid was a woman who rejected the conventions of her time, who dedicated herself to innovation in the realm of education and who, in seeking to ensure that her voice was heard in a male-dominated world, had to summon an extraordinary courage, transcend obstacles and not just survive but put a new version of things in place," he said.
"How appropriate, then, our invoking her is for our present circumstances,” Mr Higgins said. “Generations of Irish women have benefited from her inspiration and legacy. Today, as we recall her story with admiration, may we also resolve to seek inspiration in her example, to pursue our ideal of equality, universal respect for rights and a better world for all our citizens, male and female."
Higgins also drew parallels between the “courage and commitment” shown by St Brigid in her time and the efforts of those fighting back against the pandemic.
He said: "We in our day pay tribute to all of those who, in their different ways, continue to put their lives at risk as they continue their important work, for the benefit of all of us – their fellow citizens.
"Future generations will recall, I am sure, and feel grateful for the enormous debt of gratitude we owe to all those workers who have responded to the pandemic with such courage, misneach, such care, cúram, and with a spirit of solidarity, dlúthpháirtíocht."
