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PA Media
President Higgins will remain in office until Catherine Connolly's inauguration in Dublin Castle on 11 November
Irish President Michael D Higgins has spent the night in hospital to have a localised infection examined.
President Higgins travelled to St James's Hospital in Dublin by arrangement on Sunday and received antibiotics.
A spokesperson said he is in "good spirits". It is understood he will be returning to Áras an Uachtaráin, the official residence and principal workplace of the President of Ireland.
Higgins will remain in office until Catherine Connolly's inauguration in Dublin Castle on 11 November.
He had congratulated his successor after her landslide election win at the weekend.
The independent TD (member of Irish parliament) secured 914,143 first preference votes (63%) - a record in Irish presidential election history.
However, politicians have said the unprecedented number of 213,738 spoiled votes needs to be addressed.
Connolly was officially declared as the elected 10th president of the Republic of Ireland on Saturday evening at Dublin Castle, after defeating Fine Gael's Heather Humphreys.
