Michael D. Higgins
Michael Daniel Higgins is an Irish politician, poet and broadcaster who served as the president of Ireland from November 2011 to November 2025. Entering national politics through the Labour Party, he served as a senator from 1973 to 1977 and a Teachta Dála from 1981 to 1982, returning to the Seanad from 1983 to 1987 and the Dáil from 1987 to 2011. He served as minister for arts, culture and the Gaeltacht from 1993 to 1997 and as mayor of Galway from 1981 to 1982 and 1990 to 1991.
Higgins was elected president of Ireland in 2011 after being nominated by the Labour Party. He ran for a second term in 2018 and was re-elected in a landslide victory, with his 822,566 first-preference votes being the largest personal mandate in the history of the Republic of Ireland until Catherine Connolly's election as president in 2025. His second presidential inauguration took place on 11 November 2018.
Higgins used his presidency to address issues concerning justice, social equality, social inclusion, anti-sectarianism, anti-racism, and reconciliation. He made the first state visit by an Irish president to the United Kingdom in April 2014.
Early life
Michael Daniel Higgins was born on 18 April 1941 in Limerick. His father, John Higgins, was from Ballycar, County Clare, and was a lieutenant with the Charleville Company, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Cork Brigade of the Irish Republican Army. John, along with his two brothers Peter and Michael, had been active participants in the Irish War of Independence.When John's father's health grew poor, with alcohol abuse as a contributing factor, John sent Michael, aged five, and his four-year-old brother to live on his unmarried uncle and aunt's farm near Newmarket-on-Fergus, County Clare. His elder twin sisters remained in Limerick. He was educated at Ballycar National School, County Clare and St. Flannan's College, Ennis.
As an undergraduate at University College Galway, he served as vice-auditor of the college's Literary and Debating Society in 1963–64, and rose to the position of auditor in the 1964–65 academic year. He also served as president of UCG Students' Union in 1964–65. In 1967, Higgins graduated from the American Indiana University Bloomington with a Master of Arts degree in sociology. He also briefly attended the University of Manchester.
In his academic career, Higgins was a statutory lecturer in the Department of Political Science and Sociology at UCG and was a visiting professor at Southern Illinois University. He resigned his academic posts to concentrate fully on his political career.
Higgins is a fluent Irish language speaker and also speaks Spanish.
Political career (1973–2011)
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 Seanad 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, 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 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.
Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht (1993 to 1997)
When the Fianna Fáil–Labour coalition came into office in 1993 under Taoiseach Albert Reynolds, Higgins, who had long challenged every Labour leader and opposed coalition arrangements, was appointed Ireland's first Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht. Although some accused him of compromising his principles, Higgins argued that Fianna Fáil, unlike Fine Gael, was a party rooted in "na gnáth-daoine". Higgins felt comfortable with Fianna Fáil's self-declared left-of-centre stance and their republican ideals.During his period as minister, Higgins re-established the Irish Film Board and set up the Irish language television station, Teilifís na Gaeilge. Higgins also repealed Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act, which had banned Sinn Féin from appearing on Irish media. This decision allowed Sinn Féin voices on air months before the Provisional IRA began a ceasefire in 1994, and it drew attention even in UK government circles. Tánaiste Dick Spring defended Higgins's decision, citing civil liberties concerns and pointing to Sinn Féin's low public support in the Republic. He also suggested that media exposure would subject Sinn Féin to greater scrutiny.
Higgins's stint as minister also saw him initiate a network of local arts venues and community cultural centres across Ireland. In addition, his department spearheaded a major inland waterways restoration program. Under this policy, Ireland's canal network was extensively rehabilitated: over 1,000 km of waterways were made navigable, creating jobs and tourism revenue in rural areas.
Post-Ministerial career (1997 to 2011)
Higgins was appointed to the Labour Party front bench in 2000. In 2003, Higgins succeeded Proinsias De Rossa in the symbolic position of the president of the Labour Party, while continuing as the party's spokesman on foreign affairs.In January 2003, Higgins was actively involved in efforts to prevent the Iraq War. He met with Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz, and proposed a peace plan to help avoid conflict. Higgins expressed deep concern about the devastating effects of war on Iraq's civilians, particularly women and children, citing the horrors of 1991's Gulf War. He warned against the destruction of essential infrastructure, which violated international laws. Higgins believed Ireland could play a role in peace efforts, but he accused the Irish government of lacking a clear position, which undermined the country's neutrality. He also condemned the aggressive U.S. foreign policy under figures like Donald Rumsfeld and denounced the use of religious justification for war. While he opposed Saddam Hussein's regime, he stressed that war was not the solution and that a civil society in Iraq could only be achieved through non-violent means. In February, Higgins was a prominent figure in the anti-Iraq War protests in Dublin, where around 100,000 people gathered to voice their opposition to the invasion of Iraq. The rally began at the Garden of Remembrance, with Higgins addressing the crowd. Higgins joined others in urging the Irish government not to allow Shannon Airport to be used by U.S. troops en route to the Gulf.
In September 2004, as Labour Party spokesman on foreign affairs, Higgins was contacted by Paul Bigley, the brother of British hostage Kenneth Bigley, who was being held in Iraq. Higgins reached out to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat through his representatives in Dublin, and brought up Bigley's Irish heritage and Ireland's neutral stance on the Iraq war. Arafat instructed his officials to lobby Iraqi political factions for Bigley's release. Higgins also appeared on Al Jazeera to appeal to the captors and offered to travel to Iraq to assist in negotiations. Despite these efforts, Bigley was executed by his captors.
Higgins indicated his interest in contesting the 2004 presidential election for the Labour Party. The party decided on 16 September 2004 against running a candidate in the election, seeing Mary McAleese as unbeatable.
In August 2005, Higgins took part in a European fact-finding trip to Israel and Palestine, organised by United Civilians for Peace. The aim was to assess the situation after Israel pulled out of Gaza. Over a week, they visited Jerusalem, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron, and Gaza. The group met with Israeli and Palestinian politicians, mayors from various towns, and representatives from NGOs and civil society groups, as well as diplomats from the countries involved in the delegation.
In October 2010, he announced he would not be standing at the 2011 general election. He had until this point been living in a two-bed apartment at Grattan Hall on Mount Street, Dublin. He also has a family home in Galway.