FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL Macron will make a visit to Dublin next Thursday and will meet with Taoiseach Micheál Martin and President Michael D Higgins. 

The one-day trip is described as a “short working visit” in which Macron will be welcomed in Áras an Úachtaráin by President Higgins before travelling to Government Buildings for a working lunch with the Taoiseach. 

The government says the meeting between Macron and Martin will focus on current EU and international issues, Covid-19 and Irish-French relations.

During Macron’s visit to Áras an Úachtaráin, President Higgins’ diary outlines that the two heads of state will hold a bilateral meeting followed by “a meeting with a number of prominent writers and thinkers”.

In the evening, President Higgins and his wife Sabina will host a working dinner in honour of the French President.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian travelled to Dublin earlier this year to meet with his counterpart Minister Simon Coveney with hopes expressed at that point that Macron would visit before the end of 2021. 

Le Drian will again travel next week as will Minister for the Economy Bruno Le Maire and Secretary of State for European Affairs Clément Beaune.

Their itinerary will include bilateral meetings with Irish counterparts Coveney, Paschal Donohoe and Thomas Byrne.