‘Snowball’ President Michael D Higgins goes back to his old school in Ennis

The whizz at Greek grammar, nicknamed ‘Snowball’ by his classmates, yesterday recalled clandestine bets at the bookies, porridge without glucose and compulsory hurling on Wednesdays at his alma mater.

President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina arrived to a rapturous welcome from hundreds of secondary school students, representing over 30 nationalities, at St Flannan’s College in Ennis.

President Higgins attended St Flannan’s in the 1950s and, for three of his five years as a day boy, cycled the 16-mile round-trip from his Ballycar home, outside Newmarket-on-Fergus, with his brother John.