- President Higgins and his wife Sabina on their inauguration day.
The visit will be the first by Higgins to the U.S. since his election last year and the presidential couple will hit the ground running with a community reception organized by the Irish Consulate in Manhattan on Monday evening.
The following day, and throughout the week, the president and Mrs. Higgins will attend a number of events in their honor, and will also be meeting with an array of Irish community representatives and activists.
Built in to the schedule for Tuesday is a visit to the Irish Hunger Memorial in Lower Manhattan. The president will also pay a courtesy call to Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Later in the week, President Higgins will deliver an address at a World Press Freedom gathering and will meet with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. The president will deliver an address at the American Ireland Fund Gala Dinner at the Lincoln Center Thursday evening.
On Friday, Mr. Higgins will be in Boston where he will focus on economic issues at a lunch gathering at the University of Massachusetts Club. Later, he and Mrs. Higgins will attend the Self Help Africa Inaugural Boston Change-Makers Ball at the Fairmont Copley Hotel.
On Saturday, at Faneuil Hall, and on the occasion of Boston's selection as the international location for the Irish government's annual commemoration of the Great Irish Famine, the president will deliver a lecture on the Famine and its impact on Ireland and Boston.
The lecture will be followed by a musical program featuring acclaimed Irish and local Boston musicians, produced by WGBH's Brian O'Donovan. This event is free and open to the public, but guests wishing to attend are being asked to register at bostoncongen@dfa.ie. and to be in their seats no later than 11 a.m.
This event will last approximately one hour and will be followed by a short wreath laying ceremony at the Boston Irish Famine Memorial on the corner of School and Washington Streets.
The presidential couple will be at a community reception hosted by the Irish Conulate and will visit the Kennedy Library before departing Boston for Dublin.
