Clinton's Irish farewell

President Clinton, Seamus Mallon (left) and David Trimble

The BBC's Dublin correspondent, Kevin Connolly, assesses President Clinton's third and final visit to Ireland and examines the part he has played in the Northern Ireland peace process.

This was not meant, we have been assured, to be a sentimental journey.

It may be Bill Clinton's final bow on one of his favourite stages but the president is a politician to his fingertips and in Ireland, as always, there is no shortage of work for the politicians.

The issues of paramilitary weapons decommissioning and the reform of the Royal Ulster Constabulary remain as intractable as ever.

The decision of Northern Ireland's First Minister David Trimble to ban Sinn Fein representatives from north-south ministerial meetings - and Sinn Fein's legal challenge to it - have ensured that the atmosphere for any serious political discussion will be tense and difficult.

There were talks at the White House in September

If there were a soap opera - and there have been times when the Clinton presidency has appeared to be just that - then the star who has played such an influential role in the peace process would produce a breakthrough moments before leaving the stage.

Real life however is not always as reliable as soap opera in providing neat resolutions.

The president's mastery of the detail, knowledge of the key players and commitment to the process may help to move things forward but it is hard to imagine them helping to engineer a spectacular breakthrough.

'Golden age'

So perhaps inevitably, Mr Clinton's three-day visit to Dublin, Dundalk and Belfast will be viewed by many as opportunity to acclaim him for what he has achieved thus far, rather than to hope that he is able to achieve much more.

The Irish Prime Minister, Bertie Ahern, has already said that regardless of who follows Bill Clinton into the White House, the last eight years will quickly come to be seen as a kind of golden age for the Irish issue in Washington.

"We were up there among the few key areas of the world that got full attention from the State Department and from his own personal staff," he said.

With Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern

"Every time we ever sought help from any of his key people they were always made available to us."

Plenty of American presidents of course have left office with warm words from Dublin ringing in their ears.

Mr Clinton's achievement has been, while engaging with key republicans like Gerry Adams, to build a working relationship with the section of unionism led by David Trimble.

'Genuine compromise'

Professor Paul Bew, of Queen's University Belfast, an expert on Irish-American relations as well as on the peace process, said that had really been Mr Clinton's key contribution.

"Clinton has always insisted there had to be a genuine compromise," he said.

"For all the support that Irish-American nationalism has given the Clinton presidency, he has always stood for a compromise that David Trimble could live with."

South of the Irish border Mr Clinton has the expected general acclaim. North of it, things are not so simple.

'Propagandist' label

The Democratic Unionist Party speaks for those who believe that Mr Clinton's political achievements in Ireland have been secured simply by promoting the interests of Sinn Fein and engaging with its leaders.

The party's deputy leader Peter Robinson is blunt: "He would be seen within the unionist community very much as a propagandist for the nationalist and republican cause."

"His every effort has been to assist them in their programme."

Those words from a section of Irish opinion which has proved immune to Mr Clinton's political skills will serve as a reminder that behind the glitter of the presidential visit, intractable problems remain.