Up-tempo Hillary gets down to business

Former US president Bill Clinton has lost none of his enthusiasm for Ireland, his wife Hillary confirmed yesterday. Although not accompanying her on the latest Clinton visit, he played "about 25 of his Irish CDs", before she left. And as a result of her shopping spree in a traditional music store in Dublin, he now has eight more to enjoy.

The new additions do not include the best-selling "Give Up Yer Aul Sins", even though this was beside one of the CDs the New York senator brought home. But then her own political career has long emerged from the shadows of her husband's past controversies. Which probably explains why her first purchase was a Chieftains collaboration with special guests ranging from Ziggy Marley to Los Lobos, and representing every interest group in New York.

The former first lady is leading a delegation which aims to encourage trade between her new home state, especially the upstate part, and Ireland. The 30-strong group includes representatives of the New York fire and police departments, and two priests.

The senator also seemed to have brought her own cheer-leader with her, when her press conference was punctuated with shouts of "All right Hillary" from a man with a New York accent. This turned out to be one of the priests, a fully robed Franciscan friar called Father Brian Jordan. Now the chaplain at Ground Zero, he was telling anyone who would listen yesterday that Bill Clinton was the greatest US president Ireland ever had, and that Hillary would follow him into the White House, eventually.

Senator Clinton dodged this question when it was asked, and even more deftly evaded a query as to how it felt to be emerging from his shadow. An up-state, up-tempo woman, Senator Clinton stood by her down-town, downbeat guy, and said she never compared careers. Things change and "we move on", she added, "but it's the same motivation that still gets us up in the morning". Her visit, which continues today, included a meeting with the Taoiseach at Government Buildings. But the main emphasis was on encouraging US-Irish trade, and in this respect her shopping expedition was a model.

She began in the Blarney Woollen Mills on Nassau Street, with a cardigan and some Celtic jewellery. After seeking gift-buying advice from The Irish Times reporter, who suggested that CDs were always a safe bet, she proceeded to the nearby Celtic Note music store, where a large poster advertised the "Celtic Chill-out" collection.

With secret service men thick on the ground, this was never in danger of becoming a chill-out, it was certainly one of the most relaxed events in the history of the Clintons in Ireland. During a brief walkabout, she stopped traffic - literally - and schmoozed the crowd as expertly as her husband ever did.