[caption id="attachment_68019" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Michael D. Higgins delivers his inauguration speech in Dublin Castle as former president Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese look on."]
Ireland's ninth president has used his inauguration ceremony to encourage Irish people across the globe to help build a "real and inclusive" country.
After being sworn in during a ceremony at Dublin Castle on Friday of last week, President Michael D. Higgins said "egotism and materialism" had "wounded" Ireland in recent years, with people being valued in terms of their wealth rather than their fundamental dignity.
"That was our loss, the source in part, of our present difficulties," the 70-year-old told those in attendance.
"Now it is time to turn to an older wisdom that, while respecting material comfort and security as a basic right of all, also recognizes that many of the most valuable things in life cannot be measured."
The Labour Party member, who resigned from the party on being elected head of state, arrived at Dublin Castle having spent the previous night at the state residence Farmleigh. His route took him past his new lodgings, Áras an Uachtaráin.
Just before his entrance into St Patrick's Hall, President Higgins asked for a few moments to reflect in a room in the castle where James Connolly was held before being executed.
Past presidents Mary McAleese and Mary Robinson, former taoiseach Brian Cowen, the cabinet, Northern Ireland's first and deputy first ministers Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness, and all the other presidential election candidates were among those who attended.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny said Mr. Higgins would be "a powerful healer" for Ireland with a mandate of more than one million votes and the "warm wishes" of 70 million members of the Irish diaspora.
"Michael D. Higgins is indeed a noble man of quiet virtue who will bring that nobility of heart and mind and spirit to the office of the president to all his endeavors in the name of Ireland and the Irish people," Kenny said.
"His authenticity as poet, philosopher, patriot and politician. As a democrat, republican, husband, father will resonate across this country and around the world. A real republican. At the head of his greatly desired real republic."
The newly sworn president said he believed Ireland was a work in progress with an exhilarating future.
"The demands and rewards of building a real and inclusive republic in its fullest sense remains as a challenge for us all, but it is one we should embrace together," he said.
