President Michael D'Higgins' 14-year stint in office will come to an end today.
Tomorrow, he will hand over the keys to Áras to Catherine Connolly.
A Cootehill native has said that Ireland has been fortunate to have Michael D speaking out about what is right and wrong.
Ruairi McKiernan, chief executive of the Irish Development Education Association, served on the president's first council of state in his first term.
Speaking on the Joe Finnegan Show this morning, he praised the president, and his record in office.
He said: "If we just focus on recent months, and the last two years in particular, we've gone through perhaps one of the most turbulent, challenging, and disturbing times in the last hundred years of global history, when we consider the genocide of the Palestinian people.
"Ireland is fortunate to have someone, particularly through Michael D, in challenging that, and in speaking out on behalf of the majority for what is right," Mr McKiernan added.
