Tipperary national school students meet President Higgins in Aras an Uachtarain

There has been great excitement in St Kevin’s National School in Littleton in the last month after four very lucky students were chosen to visit President of Ireland Michael D Higgins in Áras an Uachtaráin last month.

Four students from the school, Jack Delaney, Michael O’Reilly, Leah Hartigan and Gemma Dempsey, along with their teacher Mr Condon and school principal Claire Ryan all travelled up to the residence of the president in Dublin on the 17th of January.

The lucky quartet were chosen to interview President Higgins as part of RTÉ’s news2day programme which was celebrating its 20th birthday last month.

The daily news show for kids takes suggested question every week from students around Ireland, and all four of Jack, Michael, Leah, and Gemma had their questions selected to be asked to President Higgins, and so they were chosen to meet the man himself in person to ask all the questions that were chosen by the broadcaster.

“We got to see his dogs, Bród and Misneach,” the students said straight away.

“They’re really big. We asked him to tell us about them (dogs).”

Bród is actually the same age as some of the Fifth and Sixth class students from St Kevin’s National School and they were big fans of the President’s Burmese Mountain Dogs.

“One of the dogs is 11 and the other one is three.

“He told us that Bród means pride and Misneach means courage in Irish. We tried to play fetch with Misneach but he wouldn’t run after the ball,” they laughed!

President Higgins was very accommodating of the students and showed them around his residence which has a huge amount of rooms and the St Kevin’s students were treated to some really interesting history which included some very old furniture and a car owned previously by someone very famous.

“We got a full tour and he told us all about the history of the house.

“We got to get into his office.

“There were loads of books in there and he told us that people don’t usually get to go in there and there’s 90 rooms in the house.

“Pope Francis is the only visitor that was allowed to be in the room before us and he had a couch in there that was over 300-years-old.”

It was gifted to the Irish State by Charles De Gaule and once belonged to Marie Antoinette.

“The walls in some of the rooms were covered in silk and he had a really old car, a Rolls Royce.

“The car belonged to Eamon De Valera,” they said.

They were well looked after by President Higgins and were treated to some snacks and fizzy drinks at a very old looking table, which they were told was older than the State and was used to talk to very special guests from around the world.

“We sat at a table as well and they told us the table was older than Ireland and all the presidents that visit from around the world sit at it with him.

“There was another table in one of the other rooms that was a gift for Bill Clinton but he never took it with him. He forgot about it!”

“He has a huge garden as well and he said he has loads of gardeners to look after it. There are horses there too,” they said excitedly.

Once the tour was done the excited students sat down with President Higgins to put the questions selected by all the students around Ireland to him, and in the wide-ranging interview, he revealed his favourite sports in school, his favourite books, and most importantly his thoughts on homework!

“We asked him what his favourite sport was in school and he said he loved hurling in primary school and handball in secondary school.”

“He said he loved a book of poems written by Patrick Kavanagh and he said he loved reading when he was young,” they said.

But the most important question of the day, and one that has garnered national coverage in the week’s since the televised interview, came from St Kevin’s student Jack Delaney.

“I asked him what his opinion on homework was.

“He said you should do all your work at school and then be creative when you are at home.”

Since then, the clip has gone viral online and has appeared in multiple social media accounts and online tabloids, and the question has even been brought to the attention of Minister for Education Norma Foley.

Unsurprisingly, the four St Kevin’s students agreed with the answer, and one of the students Leah Hartigan said that: “There was a poll in the Irish Mirror asking people if they think homework should be banned and I think 98% said yes and only 2% said no,” she highlighted!

The kids had a very enjoyable time meeting President Higgins, and their teacher Mr Condon was delighted for the kids that they got the opportunity to travel to the residence and meet with the great man himself.