The presidency is an independent office and the Irish people whom I appreciate so much and I take with such responsibility have given a very clear mandate on a very clear set of ideas to me, as the ninth president.

When I started out, people were afraid of parish priests. Now they're afraid of newspaper editors.

Every age, after all, must have its own aisling and dream of a better, kinder, happier, shared world.

I think even the poorest people in the great country that is the United States should be entitled to basic health care.

We need to discuss the basis of a new form of trust built on a meaningful form of citizenship appropriate for a republic.

I am delighted to be back home in Galway, the place I first came to as a 19-year-old in 1960. It's here where my heart is and will forever be.

The mandate I have received and for which I will speak with heart and head to implement over the next seven years had its four pillars - an inclusive citizenship, equality and participation and respect in a creative society creating an excellence in everything we Irish do.