BOTH the President, Mrs Robinson, and President Clinton condemned the bomb explosion in Manchester within hours of the news reaching Washington. The news cast a shadow over the final day of Mrs Robinson's first state visit to the United States.
President Clinton issued a statement from Camp David saying he was "deeply outraged" and joined with the Taoiseach Mr Bruton, and the British Prime Minister, Mr Major, "in utterly condemning this brutal and cowardly act of terrorism".
Senator Edward Kennedy condemned "this unconscionable atrocity" and said he hoped that the "terrorists responsible" would be "apprehended and brought to swift justice". He called on the IRA to restore the ceasefire immediately and "end once and for all their campaign of death and destruction".
The news of the bomb explosion reached President Robinson as she was beginning her last round of public engagements in Washington. She said it left her "shocked, sickened and numbed".
She told a press conference at the Irish Embassy residence. "I feel an anger that this has been done supposedly on behalf of an Irishness that has nothing to do with the Irishness that I stand for as President of Ireland".
But it was also important that "those involved in building peace dig deep and continue". She insisted that the bombing must not halt the peace process.
"We must go on, and this has to be dealt with in the way it should be, condemned utterly as serving no purpose but not going in any way to prevent this important, patient and very vital work of peace building.
The President spoke to the US and Irish media as hundreds of guests from the Irish community were arriving at the embassy for a reception in her honour. She recalled that it was only last March that she was in Manchester to open an Irish festival and of the pride of the Irish there in the work of their centre in reaching out to other immigrant groups.
She knew that it would be a "terrible trauma" for all those caught up in the bombing. "It comes at a time when all our hopes were that there was going to be a permanent ceasefire, a cessation of violence.
"All I can do is say that it is so important that we do have the opportunity to end violence for good and get on with the political negotiations."
Ironically, much of the President's programme, as she learned of the Manchester bombing, was devoted to visiting the Vietnam and Korean war memorials which illustrate the tragic waste of human lives in warfare.
From there she went to Anacostia, a mainly black quarter in south east Washington, to visit the home of the 19th century campaigner against slavery, Frederick Douglass. A former slave himself, Douglass visited Europe where he spoke in favour of home rule for Ireland.
The President received an enthusiastic welcome from the estimated 400 members of the Irish community who gathered at the embassy residence. In her address to them, she repeated her condemnation of the bombing and emphasised how alien it was to the sense of Irishness she and the Irish abroad shared.
President Clinton in his statement said. "On behalf of the American people Hillary and I extend our deepest sympathies to the victims and their families. Our prayers are with them. We have known the shock and pain of terrorism in our country, the horror of the sudden shattering of daily life. The bombing today underscores the need for all of us to join together to fight terrorism and violence in all parts of the world.
"Last week, historic talks aimed at finding a lasting settlement to the conflict in Northern Ireland began in Belfast. The people of Northern Ireland voted to send their representatives to those talks, expressing their deep desire for peace and their commitment to democratic means of resolving their differences.
"The men of violence have once again tried to dash their hopes. I want the people, who have so much at stake in those talks, to know that the United States will stand with them in their continuing search for peace.