ET: Mr Higgins, you have been a public figure for many years. How did you get involved in politics?
JH: Well, I have been a political activist for decades. I think you see in society that there are major injustices and inequalities in how resources are distributed, and how wealth is generated and then used, and political activism for a left-wing person or a socialist is really to change that; to see that the major wealth produced is for the benefit of society and the majority to create a better life, a better society for everybody.
ET: Did you grow up in a political family?
JH: No, not really, that wouldn’t have been a factor. My parents were very generous people who were generous to strangers, and I’m sure that you do learn a lot of attitudes unconsciously from that. But they weren’t politically affiliated.
ET: When you were starting off in politics, who were your political role-models? Who would have motivated you to take the path that you took, as a left-wing politician?
JH: That wouldn’t really have been a factor: I’m not really big into the idea of heroes, and it would have been more a convention of how society was organised, how it needed to be changed, the ideas, the policies, the programmes that would be necessary to change that and the methods of organisation to change it. That was part of that process obviously. Then there were the many founders of the socialist movement, going back to Karl Marx and James Connolly, Jim Larkin, men and women whom we don’t know, the countless who made immense sacrifices to build organisations that would fight for the rights of working people, so we really stand on the shoulders of those who went before us.
ET: Many people will be entering life as a TD for the first time following this election. Many politicians have experienced how frustrating political life can be in the Dáil. What advice would you give to somebody who is starting off as a TD? Do you think it is still possible to make a difference in Irish politics?
JH: I think it depends on what their intention is. Somebody just starting off and entering politics with the idea of making a big career and as part of the right-wing consensus … I have no advice for them because they won’t add to the well-being of society. People who are becoming involved for genuine reasons, to try and fight to change things and fight for justice, they have to look carefully at who they should ally themselves with and which organisation they should become part of because on your own, you really aren’t effective; you have to be part of a group, and then it depends on the movement's aims and objectives. That’s why I’m part of the socialist movement, because our aim and objective is to transform the structures of society, how the ownership of major wealth is determined and used. But if people going into the Dáil as genuine representatives, if they have the right idea, programme strategy, then they can make a substantial contribution to the movement to change society, not simply by speaking in the Dáil, but using their position to mobilise people outside to be a force for change.
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