President Michael D. Higgins is the ninth President of Ireland and took office on 11th November 2011. The president is a political scientist and sociologist by profession and spent many years as a lecturer at NUI Galway, Indiana University and the University of Manchester.
A fluent Irish speaker, President Higgins has served at every elected level of public life in Ireland and was Ireland’s first Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht.
Throughout his life, President Higgins has campaigned for human rights and advocated for the promotion of peace and democracy in Ireland and abroad, from Nicaragua and Chile to Cambodia, Iraq and Somalia.
In 1992, President Higgins was the first recipient of the Seán MacBride Peace Prize from the International Peace Bureau in Helsinki, in recognition of his work for peace and justice in many parts of the world.
He is also a writer and poet, contributing to many books covering diverse aspects of Irish politics, sociology, history and culture. He has published three collections of essays and speeches and four collections of poetry.
He is married to Sabina Coyne, and they have four children. For further information, visit www.president.ie.