President Higgins said he wanted to reflect on the "themes" of his time in Áras an Uachtaráin over the last 14 years.
"They were themes that included the need to think of the economy in an embedded if instrumental way within a set of values that sought equality, inclusion, the fullest capacity to participate and share creativity, and that we would seek to achieve this by doing so beyond any borders other than the best instincts of our shared humanity.
"That, I suggested, is the best expression and achievement of our Irishness," he said.
President Higgins paid tribute to Irish people and others who helped people around the world who are suffering from "poverty, hunger, displacement or imprisonment".
"Such Irish people, and many with them, believed that achieving such a security also provides the best opportunities for participation, peace, democracy and they had a vision that can offer real choices within longer-term thinking.
"It is a fallacy to think that an abstract view of interests must not only be in opposition but, at times, seek to defeat such values," he said.
President Higgins said Ireland is celebrating St Patrick’s Day in a world that is "increasingly challenged by forces of division, inequality" and the "flagrant degradation of our natural world that impacts the consequences of climate change on those least responsible for it".
He said "too many" people in Ireland suffered from Storm Éoywn earlier this year and the President thanked those who responded to the aftermath of the weather event.
"Reflecting on the themes that have been central to my Presidency, I remain convinced that there are alternative ways of living together on this fragile planet - ones shaped not by the narrow pursuit of self-interest, by the politics of exclusion, but by the pursuit of the shared opportunities, joys and resonance that are available with each other and with nature.
"Policies with the economy seen as embedded and in an inter-generational moral timescale that can offer such an alternative," President Higgins said.
"On this St Patrick’s Day 2025, let us invoke the spirit of St Patrick by acknowledging our shared responsibilities to each other, to our global family.
"Let us resolve to forge together a renewed sense of solidarity, reaffirming our commitment to the dignity and well-being of all, in building a just and compassionate world, one which reflects the best instincts of our humanity," he added.