The President addressed the FÉILTE Festival of teaching 'Lifelong learning: Making a difference', at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick.
FÉILTE celebrates the work that teachers do every day in their classrooms, and President Higgins has made education one of the key themes of his Presidency.
The President has hosted teachers and educators at Áras an Uachtaráin and visited many schools and colleges. In his speeches, the President has spoken about the need to cultivate independent thought, and argued that schools should not be viewed solely as places to educate future workers, but as places to empower the engaged, informed and active citizens of the future.