President Michael Higgins (Irish: Mícheál D. Ó hUiginn; born 18 April 1941) is the ninth and current President of Ireland, in office since 11 November 2011.
Higgins is a politician, poet, sociologist, author and broadcaster. He served as a Teachta Dála for the Galway West constituency and was Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht from 1993 to 1997.[3] He was the President of the Labour Party from 2003 until 2011, when he resigned following his election as President of Ireland.

He made the first state visit by an Irish president to the United Kingdom in April 2014.

His wife, Sabina Coyne, is an actress and a native of Cloonrane, a townland in County Galway near Ballindine, County Mayo. She grew up on a farm there in a family of five girls and two boys. She developed an interest in theatre and trained using Stanislavski’s system.

Higgins met Coyne in 1969 at a party in the family home of journalist Mary Kenny. Higgins proposed over Christmas 1973 and they were married the year after. They have four children: Alice Mary, twins John and Michael Jr., and Daniel; Alice Mary was elected to Seanad Éireann in 2016. He has two Bernese mountain dogs named Bruno and Shadow.