In his inauguration speech this afternoon, Michael D. Higgins spoke of "the challenges that I face, that we face together, in closing a chapter that has left us fragile as an economy, but most of all wounded as a society." Read the full text of his speech below.

Muintir na hÉireann and friends of Ireland at home and abroad, there can be no greater honour than to have been elected Uachtarán na hÉireann – President of Ireland. I thank you the people of Ireland for the honour you have bestowed upon me and I accept and appreciate the great responsibilities of that office.

As Michael D Higgins prepares for his inauguration as President of Ireland, read his final Dáil speech, delivered on 25 January 2011, in which he talks about the failure to build a real republic in Ireland, and "that ugly statement of Michael McDowell’s that inequality is needed for the stability of society."

Labour Party President, Michael D Higgins, officially opened the Larkin Hedge School on Friday 6 May and spoke about how the creative society can move us forward beyond recrimination for collapse to an innovative economy.

The future form of the economy to be envisaged as an alternative successor to our present crisis should not be born of the politics of fear. Indeed, if the history of economic crises tells us anything, it is that we should avoid turning a recession into a depression.

Extract from Chairman of the Labour Party, Michael D. Higgins' speech at the Labour Party Conference in Galway last October.