section_path: Political career (1973–2011)/Seanad and Dáil Éireann (1973 to 1993)
section_name: Seanad and Dáil Éireann (1973 to 1993)
paragraph_text: Seanad and Dáil Éireann (1973 to 1993)
  
  Higgins originally joined Fianna Fáil in UCG while a mature student and was elected its branch chairman in 1966; he switched to the Labour Party shortly thereafter. He was a Labour candidate in the 1969 and 1973 general elections but was unsuccessful on both occasions. One of the people who canvassed for him was future leader of the Labour Party and Tánaiste, Eamon Gilmore, who was then a UCG student. Higgins was appointed to the 13th Seanad in 1973 by Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave.
  
  Although placed in the senate by Fine Gael's Cosgrove, early in his career, Higgins quickly established a reputation as a "leftist firebrand" who opposed Labour going into coalition with Fine Gael. Higgins, alongside Emmet Stagg and Joe Higgins, were considered the main opponents of coalition within Labour following the departure of Noel Browne over the issue in 1977. During the 1980s Higgins involved himself in foreign affairs issues such as Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Cambodia.
  
  He also involved himself in issues such as equal pay for women and the rights of people with disabilities.
  
  Higgins was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1981 general election as a Labour Party TD. He was re-elected at the February 1982 election; he lost his seat at the November 1982 election (blaming his loss in part on his opposition to the Eighth Amendment), but returned to the Seanad when he was elected by the National University constituency. After returning to the Seanad in 1983, he helped found the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee and served as the Labour Party’s spokesperson on foreign affairs. Speaking about Higgins' interest in foreign affairs, former Labour leader Frank Cluskey once quipped: “When it comes to running the Labour Party or saving the world, Michael D always chooses the easy option.”
  
  In 1982 Higgins began writing a regular column for Hot Press, something that would continue until 1992. The columns covered major issues of the time, including opposition to the Eighth Amendment, the campaign for divorce legalisation, critiques of US foreign policy, the Enniskillen bombing, and observations on Irish and international affairs. Higgins also tackled broader social issues like patriarchy and economic inequality, with a focus on marginalised communities.
  
  It was also in 1982 that Higgins became Mayor of Galway for the first time.
  
  In early 1982, Michael D. Higgins visited El Salvador to investigate reports of the El Mozote massacre, where over 1,000 civilians were killed by government forces. Initially deported by the army, Higgins later gained access and, along with Trócaire, helped expose what had occurred. His efforts, including contacting major U.S. newspapers like the New York Times and the Washington Post, sparked international outrage and congressional hearings in the US. Higgins faced criticism but persisted in highlighting human rights abuses, aiding in El Salvador’s peace process by advocating recognition of the FMLN as a legitimate political force.
  
  In June 1984, Higgins protested against US President Ronald Reagan speaking at University College Galway. Higgins criticised the US government for supporting the Contras in Nicaragua, opposing its stance toward the country's democratically elected left-wing government.
  
  Higgins returned to the Dáil at the 1987 general election and held his seat until the 2011 general election.
  
  In 1989, Higgins and Stagg voted against the expulsion of the "Militant Labour" faction within Labour (led by Joe Higgins) after the faction was accused of being entrist Trotskyites. The measure passed and members of Militant Labour subsequently formed the Trotskyist Socialist Party.
  
  In 1991, Higgins became Mayor of Galway for a second time.