Irish Nationalist Leader Downplays White House Snub

[Tweed]

http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-03-20-voa36.cfm

"Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams says he does not feel slighted by President Bush, despite failing to receive an invitation to the White House during a visit to the United States last week.

It had become an annual tradition: inviting leaders and dignitaries from Northern Ireland to the White House on Saint Patrick's Day, which honors Ireland's patron saint.

But last Thursday Gerry Adams was kept at arm's length by the president. Mr. Bush met instead with the five sisters of a Belfast man, Robert McCartney, who was allegedly killed by members of the Irish Republican Army in January.

Mr. Adams, who heads the political wing of the paramilitary group, spoke on ABC's This Week program."