Elaborate security measures are in place in Dundalk, where President Clinton will make an open air address tomorrow.
No chances are being taken. Access to the Market Square, where the address will be made, will be allowed only after bag searches. Everyone will have to walk through a magnetic detector.
The 600 people closest to the stage where Mr Clinton will make his speech have all been vetted by gardai.
"We have put in place an operation entailing the security of the President, his entourage and the security of the people attending and encompassing traffic diversions and restrictions," said Garda Chief Supt Michael Finnegan.
Asked if known dissident republicans posed any threat, Chief Supt Finnegan would only say, "Over the weekend we increased our patrols and checkpoints on the north side of Dundalk."
It is understood detectives will have the dissidents and any suspected supporters under surveillance.
Some 30,000 people are expected to cram into the streets that converge at the Market Square. Large TV screens have been erected and before Mr Clinton's arrival the crowd will be entertained by singer Brian Kennedy, as well as traditional group Altan, the local Tain Ceili Band and the Dundalk Samba Band. The open-air concert starts at 3.30 p.m.
From 10 p.m. tonight extensive parking restrictions will be in place.
All the litterbins were removed by Friday and today the final searches of the drains and manholes will be completed by the Garda Sub-Aqua Unit before the Secret Service spotwelds them down.
"Things can literally change every minute and every possible option is examined and debated before a decision is taken. Even then it can be changed and nearly always is," said one source.
Last night it was still believed Mr Clinton would arrive with his family just after 6 p.m. and would leave for Belfast by 8 p.m. Directly outside the courthouse will be students from the town's secondary schools and there will be wheelchair access at the Demesne. The other point of entry is at the north end of Clanbrassil Street.
There will be a buffer zone around the rest of the town centre and no one will be allowed past.
The dissident republican group, the 32-County Sovereignty Committee, has asked for a meeting with President Clinton during the visit.
The group, which denies being the political wing of the "Real IRA", said it wished to ask the President to end "the daily bombing of Iraq" and wanted him to hear "the real republican position on British rule in Ireland".