The speaker of the US House of Representatives said yesterday he was "very cautiously optimistic" about the prospects of peace in Northern Ireland. Mr Newt Gingrich, who headed a cross-party US congressional delegation on a three-day visit of Northern Ireland, pledged continued American support for the North, but said the success of the peace process would depend on local party leaders showing "great courage" in the months ahead.
"I think it probably depends on leaders having courage and leaders deciding to place their children's future and the opportunity for peace and for prosperity ahead of posturing and appealing to the most extreme factions," Mr Gingrich said.
Speaking at an American charity homebuilding scheme, Habitat for Humanity, in the loyalist Glencairn estate in north Belfast, Mr Gingrich urged political parties in Northern Ireland to implement the agreement. Earlier he and his team, which included Mr Jerry Lewis, a Republican from California and Mr Jim Walsh, a New York Republican, met delegations from Sinn Fein, the Progressive Unionist Party, the Ulster Democratic Unionist Party, the SDLP and the Women's Coalition.
Mr Gingrich said all parties in Northern Ireland indicated during his meetings with them yesterday that they want to see the peace process moved forward. He believed President Clinton's visit next month would continue that momentum.
"We have already indicated that we hope to continue to develop these kinds of programmes with the US Congress working with the Assembly trying to build bilateral relations. Our message again and again is very simple. The agreement is there, it's clear, it needs to be implemented," he said.
Later this week Mr Gingrich and his team will visit St John's Church at Aldergrove, Co Antrim, which was destroyed in an arson attack in the run-up to the Drumcree standoff. Today he will make private trips to Derry and Donegal to trace his ancestral roots. He is related to the Dohertys in the north-west of Ireland through his mother, Kathleen.
Mr Gingrich will return to Dublin at the end of the week, when he will meet the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern.