The President, Mrs McAleese, is to visit Auschwitz, in Poland, later this month and plans trips to Japan and South Korea in the spring. She will travel to the west coast of the US later in the year.
After a successful first seven years in office and her uncontested return to Áras an Uachtaráin in October, Mrs McAleese is now planning her schedule for the year.
There have been some personnel changes but it was always unlikely she would make major staff adjustments. Instead it has been a question of replacing a couple of close aides who left her service for personal reasons.
Some of her new team have already accompanied Mrs McAleese to Senegal and Liberia when she visited the Army last month, and will be with her in Auschwitz, where she will join other heads of state and dignitaries on January 27th to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camp.
In March the President will travel to Japan and South Korea, and will probably celebrate St Patrick's Day in Tokyo. There are plans afoot to go to the west coast of America in May.
Of those who left the Áras team at the end of her first term in October, the closest and most senior was Ms Eileen Gleeson, who joined Mrs McAleese's election team in 1997. She worked as special adviser to the President, a role that also covered media relations, for the next seven years.
Having just had a baby, her second, Ms Gleeson had announced her decision to leave the Áras as soon as Mrs McAleese embarked on her second term. The two were friends before the 1997 election and remain so.
Another aide who stepped down for this second term was Ms Mari Kennedy, the President's projects co-ordinator. Ms Kennedy wanted a career break.
The two women have been replaced by Ms Maura Grant and Ms Gráinne Mooney, and the responsibilities have been altered. Ms Mooney has been promoted to communications officer, and will handle media events and queries and run a website. Mr Wally Young is being retained as a part-time media adviser.
Ms Grant is a newcomer to the Áras. A former school principal, she takes over Ms Gleeson's advisory role and Ms Kennedy's job as projects co-ordinator. Col Ray King also replaces Col Traolach Young as senior aide-de-camp.