* 12 December – Bill Clinton, President of the United States, arrives in Dublin beginning what will be his last international trip as President and meets with President McAleese and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and gives a speech in Dundalk.

* 8 December – President Mary McAleese meets Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle.

This relationship was further strengthened by a visit from the President of Ireland Mary McAleese between 14 and 16 June 2006 on her speech about the long standing relationship with Lesotho and shared history between both nations.

While earlier presidents were exceptionally cautious in delivering speeches and on almost every occasion submitted them for vetting, Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese have made much more use of their right to speak without government approval, with Mary McAleese doing many live radio and television interviews.

McAleese won the Presidency with 45. 2 % of first preference votes.

McAleese in discussion with US President Barack Obama at Áras an Uachtaráin on 23 May 2011.

He was honoured with a state funeral which was attended by the President of Ireland Mary McAleese, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, former Taoisigh John Bruton, Albert Reynolds and Charles Haughey, and various political persons from all parties.

However, Reynolds was still interested in being a candidate for the presidency, along with two other candidates, Michael O ' Kennedy and Mary McAleese.

Although Renyolds won the first round of voting with a comfortable margin, supporters of O ' Kennedy backed McAleese.

She came third with 13. 8 % of the first-preference vote, ahead of the Labour Party candidate, but well behind Fine Gael and the victorious Fianna Fáil nominee, Mary McAleese.

In the second round, McAleese won, with 62 votes to Reynolds's 48.

However, nominations closed at noon on 1 October and the incumbent president, Mary McAleese, who had nominated herself in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, was the only person nominated.

Thomas McAleese ( alias Dean Ford ) was the lead singer of The Marmalade who had a U. K. number one single in 1969 with a cover of The Beatles ' ' Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da '.

On 21 October 1998, President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, visited the school and met with pupils.

While his wife served as President of Ireland, McAleese initiated a series of meetings with senior loyalist paramilitary leaders to pursue peace negotiations.

* 2004: Travel to Argentina and Chile with the President of Ireland Mary McAleese.

However that claim was disputed by among others Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Mary McAleese, the President of Ireland, in their accounts of meetings with him in 2003.

Anthony Trollope was further remembered in the village with the launch of the Historic Trollope Trail by President Mary McAleese in September 2008.

Crawley's major set-piece interviews with leading cultural figures before live audiences include: the Nobel laureates Seamus Heaney and Amartya Sen, the political activist Noam Chomsky, the last Irish President Mary McAleese, her predecessor Mary Robinson, politicians Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness, the writers John Banville, Edna O ' Brien, Alexander McCall Smith, Michael Longley and Ian Rankin, the film-maker Ken Russell, former hostage and writer Brian Keenan, musicians Phil Coulter and Brian Kennedy, the historian Roy Foster, and the rugby legend Jack Kyle.

In 2004, Fine Gael supported the re-election of President Mary McAleese.

Between 1990 and 2010, both Robinson and her successor President McAleese ( 1997 – 2011 ) visited the Palace on numerous occasions, while senior royals-the Prince of Wales, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh all visited both Presidents of Ireland at Áras an Uachtaráin.

President McAleese, who is herself the first President of Ireland to have been born in Northern Ireland, continued on from President Robinson in this regard.

* November 11 – Mary McAleese is elected the 8th President of Ireland in succession to Mary Robinson, the first time in the world that one woman has succeeded another as elected head of state.

** Mary McAleese, 8th President of Ireland

The Dublin games were also the first to have their own opening and closing ceremonies broadcast live, performed by President of Ireland Mary McAleese.

The opening ceremony of the 2003 Games has been described by President of Ireland Mary McAleese as " a time when Ireland was at its superb best ".

The project was launched by President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, in Lifford and involves the restoration of of canal and two locks to working order.

The Chancellor is former President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, and there are five Pro-Chancellors: Dr Patrick J Molloy, and Professors Dermot McAleese, John Scattergood, David Spearman and Petros Florides.

In tributes, President Mary McAleese said " He was involved in every facet of policy-making that paved the way to a new, modern Ireland.

Mary Patricia McAleese (; née Leneghan ; ; born 27 June 1951 ) served as the eighth President of Ireland from 1997 to 2011.

McAleese is the first President of Ireland to have come from either Northern Ireland or Ulster.

The first individual born in Northern Ireland to become President of Ireland, President McAleese was a regular visitor to Northern Ireland throughout her presidency, where she was on the whole warmly welcomed by both communities, confounding critics who had believed she would be a divisive figure.

In March 1998, President McAleese announced that she would officially celebrate the Twelfth of July as well as Saint Patrick's Day, recognising the day's importance among Ulster Protestants.

In March 2011, President McAleese invited Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom to make a state visit to the Republic of Ireland.

In past media interviews, prior to the Queen's visit, President McAleese had stated on several occasions that the highlight of her presidency to date was the opening ceremony of the 2003 Special Olympics World Games which she describes as " a time when Ireland was at its superb best ".

An inspection of the Eastern Reserve Brigade Guard of Honour by President Mary McAleese on the 93rd anniversary of the Easter Rising on O ' Connell Street in Dublin

It was attended by President Mary McAleese, the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, members of the Oireachtas, many from the world of politics, industry and business.

On her September 2010 state tour to Russia, the President of Ireland Mary McAleese, highlighting the importance of competence,

Recent speakers at the LSE have included Kofi Annan, Hilary Benn, Ben Bernanke, Tony Blair, Hazel Blears, Cherie Booth, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Noam Chomsky, Bill Clinton, Alistair Darling, Niall Ferguson, Joschka Fischer, Vicente Fox, Milton Friedman, Muammar al-Gaddafi, John Lewis Gaddis, Alan Greenspan, Tenzin Gyatso, Will Hutton, Paul Krugman, Richard Lambert, Jens Lehmann, Lee Hsien Loong, John Major, Nelson Mandela, Mary McAleese, Dmitri Medvedev, John Atta Mills, Mario Monti, George Osborne, Robert Peston, Sebastián Piñera, Kevin Rudd, Jeffrey Sachs, Gerhard Schroeder, Carlos D. Mesa, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Costas Simitis, George Soros, Lord Stern, Jack Straw, Aung San Suu Kyi, Baroness Thatcher, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Rowan Williams.

In November 2010, when Professor Petros Florides was inaugurated these also included Dr Tony O ’ Reilly, Dr Patrick Molloy, Dr Dermot McAleese, Dr John Scattergood and Dr David Spearman.

McAleese undertook an official two-day visit to London on 28 – 29 February 2010, where she visited the site of the 2012 Summer Olympics and was guest of honour at the Madejski Stadium for a rugby union match between London Irish and Harlequin F. C.

On 13 June 2010, McAleese began an official visit to China.

The funeral was held on 5 January 2010 and attended by the President Mary McAleese and Taoiseach Brian Cowen.