US President Donald Trump is to meet President Catherine Connolly at Áras an Uachtaráin during his planned visit to Ireland next weekend.
He is likely to arrive in Dublin early on the morning of Saturday 12 September, before travelling on Marine One helicopter to the Phoenix Park for meetings with Ms Connolly and Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
President Trump will spend Saturday night at his golf resort in Doonbeg for the Irish Open tournament.
While a bilateral meeting with Mr Martin at Farmleigh House has long been expected, there had been doubt over whether the US President would meet President Connolly.
It is understood that a draft itinerary for Mr Trump’s visit early last month had no scheduled engagement at Áras an Uachtaráin, while a spokesperson for Ms Connolly had said she would consider any request for a meeting she received.
President Connolly insisted during last year’s election campaign that she would meet Mr Trump if the opportunity arose, but she was critical of his administration during her St Patrick’s Day message when she said that “the normalisation of war can never be accepted”.
He erroneously referred to Ms Connolly as a “he” during a meeting with the Taoiseach in the Oval Office on St Patrick’s Day.
The pair’s meeting is being described as a brief courtesy call by those with knowledge of the trip, and so is unlikely to replicate the visits of previous US officeholders Barack Obama and Joe Biden to former president Michael D Higgins.
Preparations for the US President’s arrival have been under way for several months, although Government sources acknowledge the sequence of events could still change up to the last minute.
His visit is likely to resemble his second state visit to Britain this time last year, during which he largely stayed within the confines of the walls of Windsor Castle, away from protesters.
Demonstrations at Mr Trump’s visit are planned in Dublin and Clare.
The Dublin leg of the journey will be largely confined to the Phoenix Park for meetings with President Connolly and Mr Martin, with a planned pit stop to turn the sod at the new US embassy in Ballsbridge likely off the agenda due to security and logistical challenges.
Mr Trump will be greeted on the tarmac at Dublin Airport by a senior Government minister, likely Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris.
He could also meet his friend, US Ambassador to Ireland Ed Walsh, at his Deerfield Residence in the Phoenix Park.
The US leader will travel to his Doonbeg Golf resort on Saturday afternoon for the Irish Open.
He will leave Ireland on Sunday evening, 13 September, or early the following day.