Demonstrators opposed to the Iraq occupation led by American troops are expected to protest against the visit of Australian prime minister John Howard to Ireland, which begins officially on Monday.
The prime minister, who will stay in Farmleigh, the Government's official guesthouse, arrives in Dublin today from Canada, though he will have no public engagements during the weekend.
Mr Howard, who has strongly supported the US/British-led occupation of Iraq, will be received by President Mary McAleese in Áras an Uachtaráin on Tuesday.
The visit formally begins on Monday when Mr Howard will lay a wreath at the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham in honour of Ireland's war dead.
Later, he will attend a civic reception held in his honour in Dublin's Mansion House hosted by the city's lord mayor, Catherine Byrne, before he addresses Dublin's Chamber of Commerce.
