President Michael D Higgins has paid tribute to the King of Spain, who is set to abdicate, for acting as a unifying force in his country.
Mr Higgins praised the monarch for bringing Spain together in the 1970s following the end of the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco.
"Spain and Ireland enjoy deep cultural and political affinities, historical and contemporary. I can personally attest to the very special empathy that exists between our nations and our peoples," the President said.
"I wish to pay tribute to King Juan Carlos who has been head of state for almost four decades and who succeeded in uniting the Spanish people behind the democratic principles underlying the country's Constitution. I wish Crown Prince Felipe every success in his new role."
The king is the second European monarch to abdicate in just over a year. In April last year, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands handed the throne to her son Prince Willem-Alexander after 33 years.
Her mother, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, had abdicated in 1980 on her 71st birthday.
Juan Carlos reigned for 40 years, helped smooth Spain’s transition to democracy in the 1970s and oversaw a change to a more modern monarchy.
His popularity waned in recent years and he was heavily criticised after it emerged he had been injured while on a elephant-hunting trip to Botswana in 2012 while Spain struggled with an employment rate of one in four and the country appeared on the verge of an international bailout.
Press Association