“The discipline of writing that fortnightly piece for Hot Press required me, regularly, to stand back and reflect deeply on the history and context of what I was doing – and why,” President Michael D. Higgins says. “I put my heart and soul into the writing, developing and refining what I hoped to be a sense of immediate, human urgency. The full interaction of my work as a concerned politician and activist was informed by what I was writing.  I am so glad to have had that opportunity – and it moves me greatly to have that work brought together now for everyone to see and read – and hopefully to enjoy.” 

“Michael D’s column was wide-ranging and free of conventional media constraints,” Hot Press editor Niall Stokes said. “It could be devastatingly critical on the one hand, and open-minded, warm and inspiring on the other – but it always reflected the deeply-felt commitment to human rights and to the equality agenda that would ultimately see Ireland modernise in the most impressive way socially and culturally. That makes it an essential document of modern Ireland in-the-making. It is a really brilliant book.” 

The author’s royalties for the book – which is dedicated to the late Sally O’Neill Sanchez – will go to the Irish aid agency Trócaire, with whom Sally worked.