US President Donald Trump will visit the Áras during his visit to Ireland next week.
Trump will spend just under 48 hours in Ireland, and is expected to meet with Taoiseach Micheál Martin, reports have stated.
According to RTE, Trump is expected to arrive in Dublin early in the morning of Saturday September 12th, before travelling by helicopter to the Phoenix Park for meetings with Connolly and Martin.
Trump will then spend Saturday night at his golf resort in Doonbeg for the Irish Open tournament.
The Government are yet to confirm any details of the US President's visit, or information of any official engagements in Dublin.
According to The Irish Times, it is understood that Trump will fly into Dublin Airport where he will be greeted by a senior member of the Government.
A meeting between Trump and Martin has been expected for a long time, however there had been doubt if Connolly and the US President would meet.
According to RTE, a draft of Trump's schedule had no mention of a visit to Áras an Uachtaráin, however a spokesperson for Connolly stated that she would consider any requests she received.
During Ireland's presidential election campaign last year, it was frequently asked if Connolly would consider meeting with Trump if she was elected and what she would say to him if the meeting did take place.
Throughout the election campaign Connolly stated that she would meet with Trump.
The Journal reported that during the final debate of the campaign, Connolly was specifically asked if she would raise the genocide in Gaza when she met with the US President.
In the final debate, Connolly said that if it was "just a meet and greet" then she would meet and greet the US President, however she stated that if the "discussion is genocide, that’s a completely different thing," before stating that she doubts the issue of the genocide would be on the agenda in a meeting with Trump.
Connolly was openly critical of Trump's administration during her St Patrick's Day message when she said that the normalisation of war can "never be accepted."
The meeting between the US President and President Connolly is expected to be a short courtesy engagement and is unlikely to resemble the visits undertaken by previous US Presidents.
Anti-Trump protests are being organised to take place for the US President's visit by neutrality campaigners, Opposition politicians and political activists in Dublin and Clare.
Speaking on the visit, Irish Labour Senator Nessa Cosgrove told TIME that the upcoming visit is a "security nightmare," and that she hopes that the US President takes time to learn why people in Ireland are distressed about the visit.
“They are angry about fuel prices, which have spiraled because of his unnecessary war of aggression in Iran,” Cosgrove said speaking to Irish media last week before adding that people are angry about the “ill-treatment of the Palestinian people by his closest allies in Israel.”
Cosgrove stated that “protecting a serving U.S. President is a serious responsibility, and An Garda Síochána [Ireland's police force] must have the resources necessary to do that safely.”
“We should also be very clear that people have every right to peacefully protest President Trump’s visit. We expect there will be significant protests and many Labour Party members and elected representatives will be joining them," she added according to TIME.
The protest is set to take place on September 12th at the Garden of Remembrance. Sara O'Rourke of the Irish Neutrality League told The Irish Times that the protest would be under the banner of "no welcome for Trump."
Protest organisers told TIME that they are expecting a "big but safe event" that will be a "family-friendly peaceful protest."
