{"id":133455,"date":"2025-11-11T05:32:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T05:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/133455\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T05:32:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T05:32:12","slug":"michael-d-higgins-thanks-public-for-support-as-he-departs-aras-an-uachtarain-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/133455\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael D Higgins thanks public for support as he departs \u00c1ras an Uachtar\u00e1in \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael D Higgins<\/a> and his wife Sabina were greeted by cheers and gifted roses as they left \u00c1ras an Uachtar\u00e1in on Monday night, with his 14 years as president<\/a> set to end at midnight.<\/p>\n

A guard of honour was formed outside the gates of the president\u2019s residence in the Phoenix Park<\/a>, despite the biting cold, by the members of the Sanctuary Runners, who wanted to show their appreciation for his support.<\/p>\n

The running group, which Mr Higgins is a patron of, is made up of Irish citizens, migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.<\/p>\n

One runner, Monica Pumpkin \u2013 originally from Botswana, handed the couple yellow roses to thank them for their support during his presidency.<\/p>\n

Ms Pumpkin, whose birthday was on Monday, said Mr Higgins had stood \u201cfor all migrants in Ireland\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here today to wish him well, and farewell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Higgins, who was late departing partly because he and Sabina wanted to ring the peace bell one last time, thanked the runners for their patience as he accepted a rose.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Did Michael D Higgins change the nature of the presidency?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\"MichaelMichael D Higgins sits in the study in \u00c1ras an Uachtar\u00e1in prior to leaving the residence for the last time as president on Monday. Photograph: Tony Maxwell \"MonicaMonica Pumpkin of the Sanctuary Runners presented flowers to Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina as they departed \u00c1ras an Uachtar\u00e1in on Monday evening. His second seven-year term ends at midnight. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw <\/p>\n

He wished Ms Pumpkin health and happiness before the car departed shortly before 6.50pm.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Mr Higgins said that serving as president of Ireland was \u201ca great privilege\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to thank the people of Ireland for the warmth of reception which they gave to both Sabina and myself over the past 14 years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Tea cosies, tote bags and Bernese mountain dogs: the branding of Michael D HigginsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cHow valuable it was to be able to join with them in engaging with the issues, projects and ideas that will help us to achieve the best of our country and the best representation of Ireland and its values abroad \u2013 an inclusive citizenship and a creative society in a real Republic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Higgins, a former mayor of Galway, president of the Labour Party and minister for arts, culture and the Gaeltacht, focused on celebrating the arts, the Irish language and peace initiatives during his term.<\/p>\n

He has published a number of books including collections of poetry, speeches and essays, and contributed to numerous others.<\/p>\n

His 14-year term ends at midnight and left-wing independent Catherine Connolly, a former Galway constituency colleague of Mr Higgins, will be inaugurated as Ireland\u2019s 10th president on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Michael D Higgins welcomes ex-rival Catherine Connolly to \u00c1ras with a word on \u2018importance\u2019 of the pressOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\"President-electPresident-elect Catherine Connolly is greeted by Michael D Higgins at \u00c1ras an Uachtar\u00e1in last week. Photograph: Colin Keegan\/Collins <\/p>\n

Mr Higgins will be in attendance at the inauguration at Dublin Castle.<\/p>\n

Ms Connolly will give her first speech as the 10th president<\/a> of Ireland on Tuesday when she is sworn into office in St Patrick\u2019s Hall before being brought by motorcade to \u00c1ras an Uachtar\u00e1in.<\/p>\n

The inauguration ceremony is scheduled to begin at about 10.30am (the live broadcast starts at 11.20am), with the Chief Justice set to present the Presidential Seal to Ms Connolly shortly after 12.40pm, followed by her speech. – PA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina were greeted by cheers and gifted roses as they left \u00c1ras…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3656,61,60,977,43,978],"class_list":["post-133455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-catherine-connolly","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-michael-d-higgins","tag-news","tag-presidential-election"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}