Taoiseach Bertie Ahern discussed loyalist violence and development issues with former US president Bill Clinton in New York yesterday.
The men met at the Clinton Global Initiative, Mr Clinton's conference designed to bring world leaders together to discuss Aids, global warming and other international problems.
Later, Mr Clinton was due to have a separate meeting with Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams.
At a meeting before the Taoiseach flew to Newfoundland to meet Irish cultural groups, Mr Clinton asked about the recent loyalist violence in Northern Ireland as well as decommissioning and the IRA's July statement that it would pursue exclusively peaceful means.
Mr Clinton expressed his gratitude for the Government's announcement this week that it would increase foreign aid to 0.7 per cent of GNP by 2012, and for Ireland's contribution to Mr Clinton's own African Aids programme.
Mr Adams and former Clinton secretary of state Madeleine Albright were later the chief speakers at a session at the conference on the role of religion in global conflict.
The conference is designed to highlight issues raised at the UN General Assembly summit also taking place in New York this week. Mr Clinton wants each participant at his conference to make a pledge to do one effective action to help the world.
Others who have attended the Clinton conference include US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice; British prime minister Tony Blair; UN secretary general Kofi Annan; King Abdullah II of Jordan; and billionaire financier George Soros.
Participants are paying $15,000 each, but the fee is waived for key figures who were invited by President Clinton.
Yesterday the conference also discussed Islam's relationship with the West, with a talk from Elizabeth Cheney, daughter of Vice-President Dick Cheney. Ms Cheney works on Middle Eastern policy in the US government.
Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine were also expected to attend, along with World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz.