Birthday girl Joanne O'Riordan ‘feels like Bono’ at Áras

Cork teenager Joanne O’Riordan, who celebrates her 18th birthday today, was almost dizzy with excitement when she met President Michael D Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin yesterday.

It was a really cool way for the teenager, who was born with no limbs, to begin her birthday celebrations and she loved every minute of it, especially meeting the ‘First Pets’ — two Bernese mountain dogs called Shadow and Bród.

The dogs took to her immediately, almost knocking her over with their affection, so they earned their spot in the official photographs.