THE White House has put on hold its plans for a third successive St Patrick's Day party this year because of the breakdown in the IRA ceasefire, according to a senior administration official.
A final decision on the party, originally scheduled for Friday March 15th, will probably not be made until the outcome of current British Irish efforts to restore the peace process is known, the official made clear.
The March 17th party last year was hosted by President Clinton and Mrs Hillary Rodham Clinton and turned into a triumphal celebration of peace. The attendance included the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton; the SDLP leader, Mr John Hume; the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, and the leader of the Ulster Democratic Party, Mr Gary McMichael.
Mr Hume and Mr Adams sang The Town I Loved So Well and Mr Clinton was given a prolonged ovation by the 350 guests.
To cancel the party would be seen by many as allowing the IRA to dictate White House decisions. On the other hand, a celebration in the present circumstances could be criticised as inappropriate in view of the return to violence, which has dispelled the euphoria about Ireland in the White House.
It would also pose serious diplomatic problems for the administration, which has yet to decide on whether or not to grant Mr Adams a visa to return to the United States in March, as he requested on February 7th.
To exclude the Sinn Fein president from the guest list would mean that high level access to the White House was being denied. Such access was one of four major gains made by Sinn Fein in the US through the peace process, the others being the granting of a visa, the lifting of a ban on contact with Sinn Fein and permission to raise funds.
To include Mr Adams on the guest list for a art in present circumstances would clearly cause a furore, however. Some sections of the media and Congress are already calling on the President not to readmit Mr Adams.
The White House clearly sees Mr Adams as an important player in attempts to persuade the IRA to resume its cease tire and any announcement of a lessening of his status in the US could have repercussions.
Senator John McCain (Republican, Arizona) yesterday added his voice to that of Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynian, who has said that the Sinn Fein president should be kept out of the US.
Senator McCain, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, sent a letter to the President saying the US had acquired a moral responsibility on Northern Ireland because of its involvement and that "admitting Gerry Adams to the United States under the current circumstances would indicate tacit acceptance of Mr Adams's acquiescence in IRA terrorism".
He said: "Allowing Gerry Adams to press his base diplomatically, without the slightest acknowledgement of the brutal course chosen by his allies, will demonstrate the efficacy of such tactics and ensure there is more of the same. We cannot ignore the murder and injury of innocent people, nor can we ignore the failure of certain parties to, at the very least, acknowledge the inhumanity of such attacks. We should express our own outrage at Mr Adams's reticence by at the very least refusing to renew his visa."
Sinn Fein has raised $1.3 million since the fund raising ban was lifted last March. A State Department spokesman, Mr Nicholas Burns, said on Wednesday the fund raising issue was "under review" and that the administration was still considering whether to renew the US visa for which Mr Adams applied on February 7th.
Mr Burns told reporters that the US Justice Department monitored the funds raised by Friends of Sinn Fein in the United States and the way they were spent.
As to whether or not the United States will permit this action to continue, I think that very much depends on our continued analysis and review of events in that country," he said. "We hope very much that the next time he does come to the United States he'll come in association with a ceasefire."
The White House press secretary, Mr Mike McCurry, praised the restraint shown by Protestant paramilitaries. "We are very encouraged that loyalist paramilitaries have shown restraint in not responding to the breach of the ceasefire and bombs in London," he said.