Irish President Higgins suffered 'mild stroke' in February

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish President Michael D. Higgins suffered a "mild stroke" in February that necessitated his admission to hospital for a week, the president said in a newspaper interview on Wednesday.

Higgins' office said at the time that he experienced a mild transient weakness from which he was expected to make a full recovery. The widely popular president, who turned 83 last week, returned to official duties immediately after his release.

"I'm fine now. What I had was a form of mild stroke. It didn't affect my cognitive abilities. It affected simply my motor side, which was on the left-hand side," Higgins told the Irish Times in his first interview since the hospitalisation.

"My left hand is fully back. But (the stroke) somehow exacerbated stuff that I had in my lower back. I'm getting that fixed in the next week."

Higgins is scheduled to complete his second and final seven-year term in the largely ceremonial role next year.

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; editing by Sarah Young)