died at the age of 11 in 2023<\/a>, having arrived at \u00c1ras an Uachtar\u00e1in as an eight-week-old puppy. Higgins also had a Bernese called Shadow during his early years as President. The dogs helped welcome everyone from foreign heads of state to thousands of members of the public to the \u00c1ras during his term.<\/p>\nThe medal was awarded to him at his final garden party last July by club member Valerie Hughes, \u201cwhich he was delighted to receive, I might add\u201d, says Stafford Byrne. <\/p>\n
She believes part of the President\u2019s popularity is due to his outward affection for his canine friends <\/p>\n
\u201cIrish people are great dog lovers,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
Stafford Byrne says Higgins has increased the popularity of the breed \u201cexponentially\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cPeople would come along and say, \u2018Oh, these are the President\u2019s dogs!\u2019\u201d. <\/p>\n
Sitting in her Co Laois kitchen, the flight attendant is surrounded by four of these presidential dogs in front of a cabinet creaking under the weight of rosettes won by her purebreds. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur club is so proud of him for having put these dogs out there on a worldwide stage, meeting dignitaries with him and showcasing their temperament and what wonderful dogs they are.\u201d <\/p>\n
![\"Molly](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ZM3UWA7ZFRFMNO47HV3TIDFXF4.jpg\")
Molly Stafford Byrne, Fiona Stafford Byrne and their dogs Iger Bear, Xena Bear and Teddy Bear <\/p>\n
Almost as soft and fluffy as Misneach is the Michael Tea Higgins tea cosy. <\/p>\n
Susan Banks, the Tallaght woman behind it, was selling her crocheted creations at craft fairs in 2016 when she saw a Michael D Higgins tea cosy on Gogglebox. <\/p>\n
She decided to give it a go. <\/p>\n
![\"Susan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/7CTJM6U75BENHIBSMG2TKKZ6WU.jfif\")
Susan Banks of Not Just Hats in her home in Tallaght <\/p>\n
They were an instant hit and \u201cwent like hot cakes\u201d at craft fairs. <\/p>\n
In January 2017 Banks\u2019s nephew, who was visiting from Canada, put a picture of one of her Michael Tea Higgins creations on Reddit. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was up on Facebook as Susan Banks at the time, so the following morning my phone rang and someone said \u2018I\u2019d like to order one of your Michael D Tea cosies\u2019. <\/p>\n
\u201cI put the phone down and the same thing happened again. And again and again so we had to take my house phone number off my Facebook account. From there on it just went wild.\u201d <\/p>\n
She says the response to Michael Tea Higgins has been \u201cunbelievable\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey have gone everywhere, as far as Japan, Australia, Canada.\u201d <\/p>\n
To what does Banks, who sells the cosies under the name Not Just Hats, credit the popularity of the design? <\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s because of the person he is, what he represents and how he represents the country so well. He\u2019s just a lovely man. Why shouldn\u2019t he be in your home?\u201d <\/p>\n
Although Higgins\u2019s second term is coming to an end, Banks hopes to continue making Michael Teas. \u201cI think he will still be popular. I hope to continue doing him, he\u2019s the best.\u201d <\/p>\n
She says she would \u201clove\u201d the opportunity to present the ninth president of Ireland with one of her cosies. <\/p>\n
Not Just Hats recently unveiled a new design on social media: \u201cHonouring a new chapter \u2013 and a perfect cup \u2013 with president elect Catherine Connoll-tea.\u201d <\/p>\n
Whether Connolly\u2019s cosy sells as well as her predecessor\u2019s remains to be seen. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Standing outside the brick cottages that line the Liberties\u2019 John Dillon Street, Megan Wright reads a letter aloud.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[18,117,19,17,361,1874],"class_list":{"0":"post-171571","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-magazine","13":"tag-michael-d-higgins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115520377135649114","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Valerie](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/QZO3OGG2A5CXRBPDN7XUAFJYYI.jpg\")
Valerie Hughes of the Irish Bernese Mountain Dog Club presenting President Michael D Higgins with a medal of appreciation <\/p>\n