Senior Times Podcasts presents an extended interview withIrelandsPresident, Michael D. Higgins and presented by broadcasting legend Mike Murphy. Michael Daniel Higgins , an Irish politician, poet, sociologist, and broadcaster, who has served as the ninth president of Ireland since November 2011 Michael D was born in Limerick in 1941 but, aged five, he was sent at the to live on his unmarried uncle and aunt’s small farm in Clare.He grew up there alongside his younger brother with the "delights and simplicities of country living", from milking cows to sowing turnips.