The US government was tonight urged to close any loophole which would enable Gerry Adams to raise money at American fundraising events even if he is barred from attending them.

SINN Féin leader Gerry Adams last night denounced as “amateurish” restrictions placed on him by the US State Department on a visa to travel to New York this week.

Nationalist calls for the British and Irish governments to implement joint authority in Northern Ireland are pie in the sky, a senior Democratic Unionist claimed tonight.

Growing US concerns about Sinn Fein voiced since the start of the war on terrorism were briefly drowned out last night by the thunderous applause that greeted Gerry Adams in New York.