TAOISEACH ENDA Kenny will brief US president Barack Obama on the Irish financial situation and the EU-IMF bailout package at a 40-minute meeting in the State guesthouse, Farmleigh, this morning.
Mr Obama and the first lady Michelle Obama are due to fly into Dublin airport shortly after 9.30am today on Air Force One for the start of their official visit. They leave tomorrow morning.
Mr Obama will be the sixth US president to make an official visit to the Republic during his period of office, beginning with John F Kennedy in June 1963. Richard Nixon visited in 1970, Ronald Reagan came in 1984, Bill Clinton was here three times between 1995 and 2000 and George W Bush visited in 2006.
The first item on Mr Obama’s programme is a courtesy call to Áras an Uachtaráin where he will meet President Mary McAleese for the first time.
The US president will then travel to nearby Farmleigh for the meeting with the Taoiseach, which will also be attended by the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore. Initially billed as a courtesy call, it has been upgraded to an official bilateral meeting.
Later, he is scheduled to fly by US government helicopter to his ancestral village of Moneygall, Co Offaly, where he is expected to spend up to an hour.
In the events that forecasts of very strong winds prove correct, the journey may have to be made by road.
Irish officials said last night that the trip by road to Moneygall would take an hour and 40 minutes each way, “even with a Garda motorcycle escort”. There was a view on the US side that the Moneygall trip might have to be called off but Irish officials were pointing out that this would greatly affect the success of the visit.
Mr Obama is expected to arrive at Dublin’s College Green for an open-air concert and rally between 5.30pm and 6pm. This public event is free - no tickets are required, and people can access the concert area from 2pm via security barriers at the intersection of Parliament Street and Dame Street. Westlife, Imelda May and Jedward, along with a number of actors and sports stars, are set to warm up the crowd before the president’s speech.
In his address, Mr Obama is expected to convey a message of hope and solidarity to the Irish people in the current difficult economic circumstances.
The president is expected to stay overnight at a leading city-centre hotel before departing for London on the next leg of his European tour tomorrow morning.
When Mr Obama visits the Áras this morning a private meeting of the two presidential couples will take place in the drawing-room.
Prior to this meeting, the Obamas will be invited to sign the visitors’ book.
A tree-planting ceremony will follow the meeting and three children will ring the peace bell.
Items likely to be discussed at the meeting with Mr Kenny and Mr Gilmore include the Northern Ireland peace process and the US president’s recent speech on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Mr Obama’s view that a solution should be based on the 1967 borders is in line with the outlook held by Ireland and its European partners and Mr Gilmore is likely to express strong support for the president’s approach.