President Higgins received Raymonde Gagné, Speaker of the Canadian Senate, to Áras an Uachtaráin on a courtesy call.
Raymonde Gagné is a Canadian politician and academic who has served as the speaker of the Senate of Canada since May 12, 2023. She was named to the Senate of Canada to represent Manitoba on March 18, 2016.
The links between Canada and Ireland began in the 16th century, and 400,000 Irish people had settled in Canada before the Famine in the 1840s. Close to 90,000 people travelled from Ireland to Canada in the year 1847 alone, of whom over 15,000 died.
Over 4.6 million Canadians (13% of the country’s population) claim Irish heritage.
