President Michael D Higgins will leave Aras an Uachtarain this evening as his term of office comes to an end.
Tomorrow Catherine Connolly will be inaugurated as the 10th President of Ireland.
It's a changing of the Galway guard as both are former Galway West TDs and one-time Labour party colleagues.
The portrait of President Michael D Higgins has already been taken down from its central position just inside the main entrance door to Leinster House.
It's expected to be moved to Áras an Uachtaráin and a portrait of Catherine Connolly will be put on display in Leinster House at some point in the future.
This evening in Phoenix Park President Michael D Higgins gathered the staff of the Aras to thank them for their service to himself and his wife Sabina.
The first couple will leave their home of 14 years this evening for private accommodation in Dublin, before heading back to Galway city tomorrow after Catherine Connolly's inauguration.
Members of the sanctuary runners, a running group pairing Irish and migrant runners, will gather on the drive into the residence to see off Michael D Higgins, who is a patron of the group.
Thus ends a 14 year term as President of Ireland - one that started dramatically as he defeated Sean Gallagher in the final week of the 2011 election, before winning a second term in a landslide in 2018.
The Higgins' have spent much of today preparing for the move and packing up more than a decades worth of gifts and accumulations from both dignitaries and members of the public.
Tomorrow the Aras will be home to Catherine Connolly, the tenth President of Ireland, the third woman to hold the role, and Ireland's President for the next seven years.
