President Michael D Higgins has begun a three-day visit to Liverpool and Manchester today.
Mr Higgins and his wife Sabina will be met by Irish Ambassador to Britain Bobby McDonagh in Manchester before travelling to Liverpool to deliver the John Kennedy Lecture.
His address, entitled Liverpool and Its Irish Migrants, will be given at the Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool.
Mr Higgins will also meet senior figures in Liverpool Town Hall before laying a wreath at the Great Hunger Memorial in memory of those who died in the Famine.
Tomorrow, the President will meet Irish expats at the city’s St Michael’s Irish Centre ahead of a reception on board the Irish naval ship LE Eithne promoting next year’s tourism event, The Gathering.
Mr Higgins will then travel northwards to visit the University of Manchester, where he studied in the late 1960s, to deliver a lecture entitled Thinking of Manchester and its Irish Connection.
He will meet senior figures in Manchester Town Hall and attend an Irish community reception hosted by Mr McDonagh.
On the final day of his visit he will attend a business breakfast hosted by Enterprise Ireland, before visiting the Irish World Heritage Centre.
PA