Adams encouraged by meeting with Bush
Sinn Fein leader, Gerry Adams, says he is encouraged by the recent attention George W Bush has paid to the Northern Ireland peace process.
Adams says he looks forward to the day when peace is so well rooted there that the "boredom of normality" prevails. He made his comments at a World Affairs Council luncheon before going to San Francisco to conclude his weeklong tour of America.
He stated: "The President obviously has lots of other issues to focus his attention on. But this White House administration is focused on assisting in whatever way it can."
He also touched on the Middle East, saying the great strides made in Northern Ireland could not be fully appreciated without considering the difficulties in trying to achieve peace in that area.
He also noted that many of the firefighters and police officers killed in the September 11 attack in New York were of Irish descent.
"This touched people in Ireland," he said. "What I would like people here to do, if it's possible, is to personalise what's happening in my country."
Earlier, a group of Irish Americans welcomed Mr Adams in Oakland, California, by introducing him to a street bearing his name.
Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown stood with him as a brass band wearing green played traditional Irish songs at Gerry Adams Way, a street that got its name in 1999.
