PRESIDENT Clinton received the annual presentation of shamrock from the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, in a ceremony in the Roosevelt Room in the White House yesterday afternoon.
Mr Bruton gave the President a large round Irish crystal bowl holding a bunch of shamrock. "Very beautiful," Mr Clinton remarked, adding to laughter that he would put the shamrock to good use in the election year.
The ceremony was attended by the Irish Ambassador, Mr Dermot Gallagher, and Mrs Maeve Gallagher, Mr Sean O hUiginn, head of the Anglo Irish desk in Foreign Affairs, Mr Paddy Teahon, Secretary of the Department of the Taoiseach, and other Irish officials.
The US contingent included Vice President Al Gore, Mr Clinton's chief of staff, Mr Leon Panetta, the National Security Adviser, Mr Tony Lake, his deputy, Miss Nancy Soderberg, and the US ambassador to Ireland, Mrs Jean Kennedy Smith.
Invited guests sitting on gold and white chairs included Senator George Mitchell, Mr Mark Gearon, head of the Peace Corps, and Mr Niall O'Dowd, publisher of Irish America magazine. Asked how far the US administration could go in helping guarantee the date of talks and progress thereafter, Mr Clinton said the US would do whatever it could to support a disciplined co ordinated approach to the talks.
"I believe if we can start the all party talks and all the parties are part of the talks which means that we have to restore the ceasefire, and then if all issues are approached in good faith and a disciplined fashion, the chances of a successful outcome are pretty good," he said.
"I have seen a wider gulf bridged just in my time in the White House."
To a reporter who asked what he would say to the seven leaders of the IRA who mistrusted Britain to convince them to trust the British Prime Minister, Mr John Major, at this time, Mr Clinton said: "I would say to them, you.
I don't have to trust them at all.
"You can take these things as they come. I would say the United States, that our involvement here, presumes the integrity of any agreement that will be made and what you ought to do is realise that all you can do, as every poll shows, is weaken your case among Irish Catholics and Protestants, every time you blow up a building or kill somebody.
"When we can get these talks started with you and your people represented in these don't have to all of a trusting people. You just have show up, start, go to work and your representatives and who have the same concerns you do reach an agreement good faith then it would be very hard for that agreement not to be carried out, first of all because United States has placed its will in the ultimate outcome product and secondly, because whole world is looking at this. He added there was nothing to be lost by taking a leap of faith.
Mr Bruton, accompanied by wife, Finola, emphasised that only requirement to enter was that a party did not support violence. "That the reinstatement of the ceasefire - is the only qualification required for what we want very much, that is full Sinn Fein participation in these talks.
"It is extremely important that these talks do not become log jammed on one item."