THERE was a time when China was associated in Irish minds with foreign marvels such as kung fu, fireworks and tinned lychees.

LIVING in silence and prayer, former president Mary McAleese enjoyed a cloistered existence for a number of days each year with the Poor Clare nuns.

Michael D Higgins will be inaugurated as the country's ninth President at a special ceremony in Dublin Castle today.

ALL sides of Dáil Eireann joined in paying extended tribute to President Mary McAleese yesterday as she departed Áras an Uachtarain after 14 years.

EVERYONE knows you can get to work a little late on your last day.

TODAY marks the end of an era and the dawning of a new chapter in Irish history, a day when the presidency of Mary McAleese comes to a close and Michael D Higgins assumes the nation’s highest office as Head of State and 9th President of Ireland.

It is Mary McAleese's last day as the President of Ireland. Tomorrow, Ireland's ninth President Michael D Higgins will be inaugurated as her successor.

MORE than 200 Irish people celebrated their 100th birthday this year according to figures released this week.

Ireland’s President-elect Michael D Higgins has vowed to lead the country in a necessary transformation away from values based on wealth.

IF our Constitution would allow it, and if the lady could be persuaded, it is certain President Mary McAleese would begin a third term this winter.

President Mary McAleese will visit Camp Shamrock in the Lebanon this morning to visit peace-keeping troops and present medals to 72 personnel on their first overseas mission.

PRESIDENT Mary McAleese will never be replaced.

President McAleese will visit Irish peacekeeping troops in Lebanon this weekend on her final trip abroad.

TOMORROW marks the last time the red carpet will be rolled out for President Mary McAleese on All-Ireland final day.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has said Martin McGuinness would be a President for the whole island, and not just for the 26 counties.

Commemorations to the victims of the 911 attacks will be taking place across the country today.

ON the first day of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s visit to Ireland they had lunch at Áras an Uachtarain, invited by President Mary McAleese as part of a small group that included Michael Ó Muircheartaigh, the GAA commentator.

LAST February’s evisceration of Fianna Fáil at the polls was a direct response to their championing of the Hollywood slogan that greed is good, to their lazy, self-serving conservatism and to their habit of borrowing money to buy support that beggared the country.

Members of the defence forces have been deployed to south Lebanon to quell tensions. While their commander attests to their readiness for the mission, if violence escalates it could prevent a visit by President McAleese, writes Political Reporter Juno McEnroe in Tibnin.

Irish men and women who lost their lives in battle are being commemorated today.

A NEW era dawned when the government received their seals of office from President McAleese on Wednesday, March 9, 2011.

Irish President Mary McAleese has led hundreds of mourners at the removal of the former Finance Minister Brian Lenihan.

ANTHONY WOODS (June 3) claims there is no need for a Presidential election as we already have the “creme de la creme” in office. Mr Woods also stated that “our beloved President should be offered the job for life”.

AFTER the visits by Queen Elizabeth II and President Obama and the excellent hosting by Taoiseach Enda Kenny and President McAleese I have one thing to say, “It feels good to feel good.”

“EVERYBODY say cheese!

GARRET FitzGerald passed away knowing that the good relations he dreamed of between Ireland and Britain were a reality, mourners at his funeral were told.

Former Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald woke in “his final agony” to see the culmination of his work when the Queen met President Mary McAleese on Irish soil, his state funeral heard today.

THE Queen’s visit to Ireland began at noon last Tuesday, but it was another three hours before she touched down. More than her physical presence in the state, it was her gesture at the Garden of Remembrance that brought her into contact with the Irish people. Somebody among the organisers must have realised that the laying of a wreath to those who died for Irish freedom should occur as soon as possible.

IN one of his first acts on Irish soil next Monday, US president Barack Obama will pay tribute to President Mary McAleese for her “extraordinary legacy” to the Irish people.

THE visit of President McAleese and Queen Elizabeth II to the Garden of Remembrance and the Irish National War Memorial Gardens at Islandbridge was hugely symbolic in our nation’s journey of reconciliation.

GAA President Christy Cooney welcomed Queen Elizabeth to Croke Park today in what was another history-making leg of the British monarch's trip to Ireland.

The British Prime Minister David Cameron has praised the Queen's "healing" visit to Ireland.

IT was a day when the world turned a little differently.

IT MAY go down in the history books as having finally drawn a line under centuries of animosity between two neighbouring nations.

A KEYNOTE address by Queen Elizabeth at Dublin Castle this evening promises to be one of the highlights of her four-day visit to Ireland.

It is just three months shy of the 190th anniversary of the visit of George IV, who was the first British monarch to come to this country without an accompanying army. Queen Elizabeth II will arrive today, accompanied by an army of media.

A campaigner for victims of terrorism today said it was inappropriate for members of the Ulster Defence Association to be invited to a ceremony on Wednesday at which the Queen will lay a wreath in memory of Irish soldiers who died in the First World War.

Security forces were on high alert tonight as the Queen prepared for her historic four-day trip to Ireland.

Mary Byrne, Westlife and The Chieftains will all take part in a concert to mark Quenn Elizabeth II's visit to Ireland this monith.

The President Mary McAleese has insisted that Ireland's corporation tax rate is not up for negotiation.

SELFLESS volunteers dedicated to rebuilding the lives of young people caught in the aftermath of one of the world’s worst disasters have been honoured.

BRITAIN’S Queen Elizabeth is scheduled to visit the Rock of Cashel, and the Irish National Stud and confirmation of her intention to visit Cork will provide a welcome boost for some of the country’s most celebrated tourist attractions.

The Queen will be steeped in the traditions and history of the Gaelic Athletic Association in an historic visit to Croke Park.

THE Queen of England to visit Croke Park?