Bush vows to support N. Ireland peace

WASHINGTON -- President Bush and members of Congress yesterday pledged their support for peace in Northern Ireland and for the family of slain Irishman Robert McCartney, calling for an end to violence by the Irish Republican Army and justice for McCartney, whose murder has been blamed on the IRA.

This year's St. Patrick's Day celebration -- normally a festive, bipartisan affair open to all players in Irish politics -- had a somber, divisive tone that underscored the uncertain state of the peace process in Northern Ireland. Lawmakers sparred over how to deal with Sinn Fein, the political arm of the IRA, and the visit to the White House by McCartney's mourning family served as a reminder of the personal pain that the violence in Northern Ireland has wrought.

Bush and some others refused to meet with Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, and Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican not normally vocal about Irish affairs, astonished Irish-American officials at a St. Patrick's Day dinner Wednesday night when he slammed both the IRA and Sinn Fein for the current situation in Northern Ireland.

''It wasn't just the message; it was the messenger," Representative Joseph Crowley, a New York Democrat active in Irish affairs, said of McCain's remarks before attendants at the Irish-American tribute dinner. ''I felt like I was being lectured by a substitute teacher."

Adams brushed off McCain's address. ''I don't think his remarks deserve comment," Adams said in an interview.

The IRA has been blamed for both a massive bank robbery and the murder of McCartney following a bar fight in January. Some lawmakers believe Adams should be exerting more pressure on the IRA to end the violence and pressure witnesses of McCartney's murder to come forward, but others say that both sides should be held accountable for the state of affairs there.

The Sinn Fein leader got the official cold shoulder from other Washington politicians as well. Adams was conspicuously not invited to the White House this year, a deviation of White House tradition since 1995. Bush visited with McCartney's sisters and fiancée and received the traditional crystal bowl full of shamrocks from Prime Minister Bertie Ahern of Ireland.

''As you work for peace, our government and the American people will stand with you," Bush told Ahern.

Nor was Adams asked to share a meal at the annual St. Patrick's Day lunch hosted by the speaker of the House, a symbolic gesture that displayed the frustration of Congress toward the IRA.

The lunch is not meant to be a negotiating session. But like members of a troubled, dysfunctional family who still manage to gather and break bread together on a holiday, the feuding players in the Irish peace process always briefly put aside their differences to share a meal on St. Patrick's Day with Irish-American lawmakers.

This year, ''it felt empty," Crowley said. While Adams did travel to the United States to meet with some House members, other political players did not make the trip.

''It is a disappointment," said Anne Porter, spokeswoman for the Ulster Unionist Party. ''It was sort of our indication that we could get together in one room."

One attendant at the private luncheon said the event did not have the same Irish flavor it has had in the past. Attendees heard music from the movie ''The Commitments," which featured an Irish band that played Motown music. In his remarks, Bush also referred to McCartney's ''three sisters" (he had five), a minor mistake that nonetheless made the president appear less than connected to the situation in Northern Ireland, said one lawmaker who attended the lunch.

Bill Clinton, as president, took a strong personal interest in the Northern Ireland peace process and initiated the multiparty St. Patrick's Day events at the White House. Bush has adopted a less active role.

Adams spoke with some House members and met privately with Mitchell Reiss, Bush's special envoy to Northern Ireland. The Sinn Fein leader said he did not mind being shut out of the White House and the speaker's luncheon, since no political party officials were invited. ''The only difference I felt this time was the fact that [Senator] Ted Kennedy canceled a commitment to do a meeting," Adams said, referring to the Massachusetts Democrat.

''I think it's OK to make a statement that the parties wouldn't be welcome to a social event until there is a resolution" toward peace, said Representative Marty Meehan, Democrat of Lowell. Meehan met with Adams, saying he wanted to continue the dialogue.

British and Irish officials have blamed the IRA for a $50 million bank heist in December, a charge the paramilitary group denies. The robbery is significant because of its criminality and because it suggested the group, if responsible, did not intend to disarm and disband.

McCartney's killing has galvanized those who accuse the IRA of intimidating witnesses. McCartney's sisters and fiancée have been pressuring witnesses to come forward despite fears of IRA retaliation.

Bush met yesterday with the McCartney family, who said the president pledged to do what he could to bring the killers to justice. But the president did not make clear exactly what he could do to assist the sisters. ''He was simply letting them know that we will do whatever we can to assist," said presidential spokesman Scott McClellan.