Leading unionist civic leaders from Northern Ireland will be in Dublin today as part of a cultural exchange visit with a community group.
The Lord Mayor of Belfast, Mr Robert Stoker, and the Deputy Mayor of the borough of Newtownabbey, Mr Tommy Kirkham, will be joined on the visit to the Republic by Orange Order Grand Master Mr Robert Saulters.
The visit is a reciprocal event following an exchange by a Dublin community group recently, in which they visited the People's Museum at Glencairn in the loyalist upper Shankill area of north Belfast.
The Dublin group was also taken to an Orange Hall in north Belfast and provided with a historical perspective on unionism and Orangeism in Northern Ireland.
It is understood that Mr Saulters will discuss parades, a theme which is central to the Orange Order. The President, Mrs McAleese, may also meet members of the Northern delegation.
Mr Stoker is an Ulster Unionist, while Mr Kirkham belongs to the fringe Ulster Democratic Party.