The President, Mrs McAleese, will be inaugurated for a second seven-year term of office at a ceremony in Dublin Castle today.
Mrs McAleese, accompanied by her husband, Martin, will travel in the President's traditional Rolls Royce, escorted by 2nd Cavalry Squadron motorcycles. The motorcade will leave Áras an Uachtaráin at 11.30 a.m. and proceed along the north quays to Dublin Castle via Parliament St.
Hundreds of pupils from primary and secondary schools from every county on the island, including a large number from Northern Ireland, will attend.
The ceremony will consist of an inter-faith service and a civil declaration in St Patrick's Hall, to which 700 guests have been invited.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and other members of the Government, members of the Oireachtas, the judiciary, the Council of State and the Diplomatic Corps will be present.
Musical accompaniment will be provided by Ms Máire Brennan, Mr Liam O'Flynn and the Army No 1 Band. The ceremony will be covered live on RTÉ 1 television beginning at 11.30 a.m., RTÉ Radio 1, and BBC Radio Ulster.
At 6.50 p.m. the President will be guest of honour at a reception hosted by the Government for over 2,000 guests in Dublin Castle.
There will be a short pyrotechnic display at Dublin Castle at 9.30 p.m.
The President has invited 17 community and voluntary group leaders as her personal guests. Each of them will bring a dozen family and friends.
The list includes Ms Breda Cahill, administrator of the Aislinn Adolescent Treatment Centre in Co Kilkenny, which has helped 645 people with drug addictions since it opened its doors in 1998.
A President's Award winner, Mr Seamus McMenamin, will also attend, as will a Special Olympics athlete, Mr Kevin O'Connor, who has competed in swimming and equestrianism.
Mr O'Connor was chosen as a member of Team Ireland for the 2003 World Summer Games in Dublin, where he won silver and bronze medals in the equestrian event.
Mr Conal McNamara (17), from Achill Sound, who won a silver medal in the Athens Paralympic Games, will also attend. He is now studying music at the University of Limerick.
Ms Mary Nally, who leads 300 volunteers working on the Senior Help Line, which offers a national telephone listening service for isolated and lonely older people, has also been invited.
A leading Belfast community worker, Mr Liam Maskey, who works in north Belfast, will also attend. A brother of the former Sinn Féin Belfast lord mayor, Mr Alex Maskey, he was awarded the 2002 US President's Peace Prize in recognition of his outstanding contribution to peace-building in Northern Ireland.
The country's immigrant population will be represented by a Nigerian, Mr Rotimi Adebari, who has lived in Ireland for four years and who was elected to Portlaoise Town Council last summer.
The Rolls Royce to be used this morning, ZJ 5000, was bought in 1949 by the Department of Defence for official use by the President. It has been used by every holder of the office since Mr Sean T. O'Kelly.
