The President of Ireland is Michael D Higgins, but the office of President is largely symbolic.
The leader of Government (or Taoiseach) is Enda Kenny
The head of state in Ireland is the president. The current president (June 2011) is Mary McAleese, whose term will end later in 2011. Ireland does not have a vice president, so there is no vice leader of Ireland. The head of government, known as a Taoiseach, has a deputy, known as a Tánaiste, but neither of these can be considered the vice leader of the country.
The President of Ireland in 1964 was Eamon DeValera. The Taoiseach (official title for head of government) was Seán Lemass.
The overall island of Ireland does not have a leader, as six of the 32 counties are part of the UK and are still occupied by British forces. The Republic of Ireland contains the other 26 counties. Its head of government is the Taoiseach. The head of state is the President.
Ireland has a president as head of state. Currently, in September 2014, that is Michael D. Higgins. The head of government is a different position, known as the Taoiseach, who currently is Enda Kenny.
Enda Kenny is not the leader of Ireland. He is the Taoiseach, which is the head of the Irish government. The head of the government in Ireland is not the head of state, which is the role of the president of Ireland. Michael D. Higgins is the president of Ireland. For Enda Kenny to have become Taoiseach, he had to be elected to Dáil Éireann, the Irish parliament, and as leader of the biggest party, he was voted in as Taoiseach when a government was formed. Elected members of his party, Fine Gael, and the Labour party, which are also part of the government, voted for him in Dáil Éireann.
The official title of the head of an Irish government is known as a Taoiseach, pronounced Tea shock. It is an old Irish language word for leader or chieftain. The current Taoiseach is Brian Cowen, leader of Fianna Fáil. Ireland also has a president., who is the head of state. The head of state is a separate office to the head of government. The president of Ireland is currently Mary McAleese.
As yet, there is no fifteenth president of Ireland. The current president is the ninth president of Ireland.
The term vice-president is not used. The position is called the deputy leader. As of the 7th of March 2015, the deputy leader of Fine Gael is James Reilly.
There is no fixed term, most democracies have their own name for the elected leader. Examples are : US = President, UK = Prime Minister, Ireland = Taoiseach.
Ireland did not have its first president until 1938, so there was no president of Ireland in 1865.
Michael D. Higgins, the current President of Ireland, is the 9th President of Ireland.
Ireland is a soveirgn state, meaning that it does not have a monarchy and is in theory run by the people. There is an political party elected to act as government. The leader of this elected party is known as the Taoiseach. Ireland also has a president. The president acts more as a national representative and has no real powers in the running of the country.