Dublin: Some 41 runners will carry the Olympic Flame here Wednesday for the torch's only excursion outside Britain ahead of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The ceremony will include a cross-border ceremony, a civic event in Howth, a run on the Skyline roof at Croke Park and a relay around Dublin city centre.

The visit of the Flame to Ireland is symbolic of the success of the Northern Ireland Peace Process, and of the all-island make-up of the Irish team for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The event starts just outside Newry in Northern Ireland. A short ceremony will take place at the border involving former Olympic boxers Wayne McCullough and Michael Carruth along with children from schools in Newry and Dundalk.

The Flame will then be driven to Howth in County Dublin where it will be greeted by Ireland's President Michael Higgins in a ceremony outside the offices of the Olympic Council in Howth.

President Higgins will be joined in Howth by hundreds of school children from the area, representatives of local civic and sporting organisations, and British Ambassador to Ireland Dominick Chilcott.

The final torchbearer, former Olympic 5,000-metre runner and chef de mission for the Irish 2012 Olympic team Sonia O'Sullivan, will light an Olympic cauldron on the Green's Bandstand to commemorate the event.