President Michael D Higgins celebrates his 80th birthday today.
Born in Limerick in 1941, he entered politics in the mid 1960s as a member of Fianna Fail before switching to Labour.
A well-known human rights activist, the ninth president of Ireland is also a poet and author.
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In an interview with the Sunday Independent, he says lockdown has been very hard and he's looking forward to meeting the public again, going to a soccer match, meeting his children and grandchild, and going to the sea.
