President Michael D. Higgins met with members of the Spiritans, or Holy Ghost Fathers, congregration in Áras an Uachtaráin.
The President said:
"As an international congregation your name is synonymous around the world with human rights, developmental work and service to the poor. It is a body of work that is undertaken in a quiet spirit of selflessness, enormous compassion, and great courage and determination in the face of barriers and difficulties.
At the very heart of that work is an understanding of the great importance of education in building just and ethical communities. Indeed, in every continent across the globe, the impact of the Holy Ghost Fathers has been felt in so many forms of education, from Primary to Secondary to Third Level, while embracing the many non formal and greatly transformational areas of education that lie in between."