Irish president Enda Kelly gives Rajoy a named football shirt for the 'Galicia national team'

The T-shirt is designed as though it were for the 'national' team of Galicia, the far north-western region directly above Portugal, and 'Rajoy' is printed on it as though it was the player's name.

Galicia and Ireland share cultural connections through their Gaelic roots, and the former is Rajoy's home region.

He was born in the famous cathedral city of Santiago de Compostela (A Coruña province) – on March 27, 1955 – and studied law at the university there, and moved at age 15 to the city of Pontevedra, where he was councillor and then MP for the provincial government.

Rajoy's father, also called Mariano, was chairman of the provincial court of Pontevedra, and will be 97 years old this year.

After receiving the surprise gift from the Emerald Isle's head of State, Rajoy wrote an appreciative message on Twitter.

“Very grateful to my good friend @EndaKennyTD for such a lovely present. I'll look after it lovingly,” the Spanish president tweeted.

The photograph shows Kenny handing Rajoy the football shirt, and was published by the latter on his Twitter page.