Irish President Michael D. Higgins has given his annual Christmas and New Year message. Here is the full text, via The Irish Times. Here are a few passages:

In this year of the Gathering, we extended a warm welcome to the Irish Diaspora. Christmas, however, reminds us that true hospitality endures and reaches beyond kin and one’s own community; it extends to the stranger, the newcomer, the outsider. …

During 2014 I will be encouraging the widest possible discussion of ethics in every aspect of our lives, nationally and globally. This will, I hope, make a contribution towards moving beyond a version of our society and economy that has brought so much hardship, required so much sacrifice.