In July 2014, President Higgins attended the Asgard Centennial Commemoration in Howth, Co. Dublin.
On the pier where the Asgard landed a cargo of German rifles on 26 July 1914, President Higgins said the commemoration should be used to recall a time of hope and renewal.
You can read the President's speech here.
The Howth Gun Running followed the smuggling of munitions into Larne by the Ulster Volunteer Force and was intended to arm the Irish Volunteers with 900 Mauser rifles and 29,000 rounds of ammunition to defend the principles of Home Rule. The weapons, sourced in Germany and originally used in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, were put on board the Asgard in the North Sea.