White House celebrates St Patrick's Day

By Martina Purdy BBC Northern Ireland political correspondent

"I'm the secretary of state for Northern Ireland," Peter Hain told a group of children outside the White House.

The White House was the focus of Irish celebrations

''Oooooooh,'' cried their delighted teachers.

On 17 March in Washington, even a Welsh South African from the land of St Patrick is an impressive figure.

They watched with curiosity as men and women, many clad in tell-tale green, arrived at the White House for the St Patrick's Day reception.

The children did not seem to mind that their tour of the White House had been put off because the day was reserved for guests from Northern Ireland and the Republic.

"Happy St Patrick's Day,'' chanted the Falcon cheerleaders of Illonois.

The same greeting could be heard from taxi drivers, waitresses and doormen throughout the city.

Women appeared in green t-shirts which read, ''Men love Irish women'', receptionists in lobbies displayed shamrocks on their desk and long queues of emerald-clad drinkers formed outside pubs.

But then bizarre sights always appear in Washington in and around St Patrick's Day and this year was no different.

Ian Paisley Jr turned up for a breakfast with the Ulster Unionist Party; Robert McCartney's family dined just a few tables from Gerry Adams at the American Ireland Fund dinner and George Bush swayed awkwardly while three crooners from south Kerry sang: ''I dream of Jeannie with the light brown hair'' at the Speaker's lunch on Capitol Hill.

Irish Premier Bertie Ahern and US President George Bush

In the White House, the president, who is famous for his verbal foibles, fondly remembered the war and the fighting Irish - but the ''revolutionary war'' to which he referred was the American revolution.

He even managed a few jokes during the festivities. In his slow Texan drawl, he declared: ''The census bureau tells us there are more than 34 million Americans that claim Irish ancestry - on St Patrick's Day, I suspect that number jumps a little bit.''

He stumbled ever so slightly when he tried to pronounce Dublin's "Leinster House", as he reminded everyone at the shamrock ceremony that this helped inspire an Irish architect when he designed the White House.

Mr Bush, who had been expected to cold-shoulder the Sinn Fein leader at the White House by focussing on victims' rights, even took time to banter with Gerry Adams.

According to a source close to the republican, he teased Mr Adams, who had arrived with Republican congressman Peter King, about keeping "bad company".

Mr King is one of Bush's supporters on Capitol Hill in terms of the Iraq War and his presence beside the Sinn Fein leader might have been deliberate - although the Irishman and the Long Island congressman are long-time allies.

It is not the first time Mr Bush has teased Mr Adams. He once approached him with the words: ''You're the tough guy.''

At a previous St Patrick's Day ceremony, he was overheard referring to Mr Adams and Mr McGuinness as ''the hard dudes''.

Gerry Adams joined in the celebrations

Maybe it was the spirit of forgiveness on the saint's day, but there was no sign that the president was annoyed that Mr Adams had attacked his special advisor on Northern Ireland.

Just days ago, Mr Adams had declared that he had no regard for Mitchell Reiss and his ''bad advice''.

The harsh words over the week seemed to have been drowned out by three hornpipes played by the internationally renowned flautist James Galway.

He finished with a moving rendition of Danny Boy, a bitter-sweet lament that seemed to fit the contradictions of the day; a joyous celebration of St Patrick which gathered grieving families - Geraldine Finucane and the McCartneys from Belfast and the Raffertys in Dublin - in their campaign for justice.

The Northern Ireland invasion of Washington then drew to a close.

But, as Gerry Adams left the US capitol, word was that the DUP leader Ian Paisley, who was not able to make the White House celebrations, was flying the Atlantic from Belfast.