31/10/2011 Ireland (JF) – Ireland has elected Michael D. Higgins to be President for the next turn in office and will be officially sworn into office in an inaugural ceremony on the 11th of November 2011. Mr Higgins who is the country’s first Labour party representative will be the ninth president of Ireland. He has formerly been minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht between 1994 – 1997 and is a native Irish speaker. He was also a lecturer in the National University of Galway, Indiana University and the University of Manchester, as well as being a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Galway constituency, having been mayor for the constituency twice, was the first recipient of the Seán MacBride Peace Prize in Helsinki in 1992 and was up until his recent win in the presidential elections, the president of the Labour party. The new president is most prominently known however, for his role in promoting the Irish heritage, establishing TG4 in 1994 and for being a poet.
