Michael Daniel Higgins (Irish: Mícheál Dónal Ó hUigínn; born 18 April 1941) 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 (TD) 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.
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 (UCG), 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.
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.
Higgins 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.