On Tuesday the former Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds, leads the St Patrick's Day parade in New York - the most prestigious of them all - and his youngest daughter Andrea will sing Let There Be Peace in St Patrick's Cathedral at a Mass celebrated by Cardinal O'Connor and attended by the city's Irish-American dignitaries and visitors such as Cardinal Cahal Daly.
As grand marshal, Albert, who only last week returned from representing the Government at the Euro-Asia Economic and Co-operation Council in Korea, will attend a host of functions in New York. On Tuesday he starts at the traditional Gracie Mansion 6 a.m. breakfast hosted by Mayor Rudy Giuliani and it's non-stop from there. Kathleen Reynolds will be accompanying him everywhere - except to the dinner of the Friendly Sons Of St Patrick, the 3,000-strong stag occasion where the only female to break the barrier was the former US ambassador to Dublin, Margaret Heckler e nee O'Shaughnessy.
Jean Kennedy Smith will be in Washington to greet the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, at Bill Clinton's White House reception and there is speculation that an announcement may be made about her retirement from the Dublin post - which is now expected this summer. Meanwhile, Government ministers will be representing us on the day right across the globe.
In Tokyo, at what is billed as the biggest parade in Asia, the grand marshal will be the former speaker of the US Congress, Tom Foley. Foley, it will be remembered, was alone among Irish Americans in being bitterly opposed to the visa for Gerry Adams.