President Higgins visits Kilkenny, meets Rudy the Golden Retriever

President Michael D Higgins was in Kilkenny yesterday, where he spoke at The Irish Congress of Trade Unions Biennial conference.

The President and his wife Sabina were greeted by Lyrath Estate owner Xavier McAuliffe and his wife Lorraine, along with a very special guest - the hotel’s resident Golden Retriever, Rudy. President Higgins took time to chat to the Lyrath Estate owners and the team, and the famous dog lover greeted Rudy, who was very happy to get a rub behind the ears.

The conference is taking place this week at the Five-Star Lyrath Estate. The conference was organised by Hotel Solutions DMC and the theme is ‘Making Work Pay – Unions Transforming Work and Workplaces’.

President Higgins welcomed the opportunity to address the delegates and said that he himself joined a union at nineteen years of age in his first job. He spoke about the solidarity he shared with fellow workers in the movement throughout his working life and spoke about the importance of unions and the importance of having courage to stand up for workers.

For more information on Lyrath Estate see www.lyrath.com.