Gore: Northern Ireland 'a priority'

By Mark Devenport in New York

US Vice President Al Gore says that Northern Ireland will be one of his top foreign policy priorities if he succeeds Bill Clinton at the White House.

Speaking at an Irish American forum in New York, the Vice President said he wanted to visit Belfast and Dublin as President.

He also said that, despite the recent setbacks in the peace process, there would be no new restrictions on US visas for the Sinn Fein leadership.

Irish American politicians in New York had invited presidential candidates of all political persuasions to address them.

Republican Party front-runners, George Bush and John McCain, had wanted to speak to the forum by video, but the organisers decided against that proposal.

Gore alone

That left the stage to Al Gore alone, who used his speech to assure Irish Americans that Northern Ireland would be one of the top items on his foreign policy agenda.

He told them: "I want to stand for peace in Northern Ireland. Stand with me and I will stand for peace in Northern Ireland. I will push this process forward. We will never give up. We will never turn back."

The Vice President said the White House expected to have politicians of all shades in Washington this St Patrick's Day in order to make further progress in the peace process.