President Higgins received members of a youth club from Ballaghaderreen, Co. Roscommon, at Áras an Uachtaráin.
The young people were the winners of the Foróige Annual Youth Citizenship Awards, for their project welcoming teenage Syrian refugees to their community.
Their project was among the hundreds of projects, involving more than 2,000 young people, that competed for the annual awards, through activities in the areas of equality, homelessness, mental health and community regeneration.