President of Ireland

The President of Ireland (Irish: Uachtarán na hÉireann OOk-te-rawn na HAir-un ) is the head of state of Ireland. It is mostly ceremonial and elections are held every seven years, a person can be elected for up to two terms. The current President of Ireland is Catherine Connolly.

President of Ireland
Presidential Seal
Presidential Standard
Incumbent Catherine Connolly since 11 November 2025
Style	President (Uachtarán) or Your Excellency (A Shoilse)
Residence	Áras an Uachtaráin
Term length	Seven years, renewable once
Inaugural holder	Douglas Hyde
Formation	25 June 1938
Salary	€250,000 per annum [1]
Website	www.president.ie

Duties

• Appoints the government: The President formally appoints the Taoiseach (head of government) and other ministers, and accepts their resignations.
• Signs bills into law: The President cannot veto a bill that the Dáil and the Seanad have adopted.
• Power of pardon: The President, on the advice of the Government, has "the right of pardon and the power to commute or remit punishment".^[2]
• The President is ex officio President of the Irish Red Cross Society.^[3]
• The President appoints, on the advice of the Government, the Senior Professors and chairman of the council of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies;^[4]

List of presidents of Ireland

The functions of the President were exercised by the Presidential Commission from the coming into force of the Constitution on 29 December 1937 until the election of Douglas Hyde in 1938, and during the vacancies of 1974, 1976, and 1997.

No.	Portrait	Name (birth–death)	Previous service	Term of office			Nominated by		Election
				Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Douglas Hyde (1860–1949)	Senator (1922–1925, 1938)	25 June 1938	24 June 1945	7 years		Fianna Fáil	1938
								Fine Gael
2		Seán T. O'Kelly (1882–1966)	Tánaiste (1932–1945)	25 June 1945	24 June 1959	14 years		Fianna Fáil	1945
								Himself	1952
3		Éamon de Valera (1882–1975)	Taoiseach (1932–1948, 1951–1954, 1957–1959)	25 June 1959	24 June 1973	14 years		Fianna Fáil	1959
								Himself	1966
4		Erskine Hamilton Childers (1905–1974)	Tánaiste (1969–1973)	25 June 1973	17 November 1974	1 year, 145 days		Fianna Fáil	1973
5		Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh[a] (1911–1978)	Chief Justice of Ireland (1961–1973)	19 December 1974	22 October 1976	1 year, 308 days		All-party nomination	1974
6		Patrick Hillery (1923–2008)	European Commissioner for Social Affairs (1973–1976)	3 December 1976	2 December 1990	14 years		Fianna Fáil	1976
								Himself	1983
7		Mary Robinson (born 1944)	Senator (1969–1989)	3 December 1990	12 September 1997	6 years, 283 days		Labour	1990
								Workers' Party
8		Mary McAleese (born 1951)	Reid Professor of Criminal law, Criminology and Penology at Trinity College Dublin	11 November 1997	10 November 2011	14 years		Fianna Fáil	1997
								Progressive Democrats
								Herself	2004
9		Michael D. Higgins (born 1941)	Minister for Arts, Culture and Gaeltacht (1993–1997)	11 November 2011	10 November 2025	14 years		Labour	2011
								Himself	2018
10		Catherine Connolly (born 1957)	Leas-Cheann Comhairle (2020–2024)	11 November 2025	Incumbent	38 days		Sinn Fein	2025
								Social Democrats
								Labour
								PBP–Solidarity
								Green Party
								100% Redress
								Independents

Notes

1. His name is sometimes given in the alternative spelling of Carroll O'Daly.^[5]