SF representative gets US visa waiver

SINN FÉIN'S Washington representative, Rita O'Hare, has been granted a visa waiver to the US a month after a similar application was rejected.

Because of past IRA associations, Ms O'Hare is ineligible for a visa. But it had been US State Department practice for several years to grant her a waiver, allowing her to travel to the US and carry out party business there.

Last month, however, the US State Department rejected an application from Ms O'Hare.

Early reports indicated it was because she had deviated from an itinerary she had supplied to the State Department on one particular trip by travelling to Florida to meet prominent Irish-American businessman Bill Flynn.

It was later suggested, however, that the decision to reject her application was the Bush administration's way of sending a message to Sinn Féin and the IRA as the latter debated the possibility of ending criminality.

The US envoy to Northern Ireland, Mitchell Reiss, later told a US congressional hearing that it would have been "bad policy" if the application has been turned down for political reasons.

Sinn Féin subsequently raised the matter both here and in the US, and the State Department has now decided to grant a visa waiver to Ms O'Hare for a scheduled visit to Washington and New York this week.

It is understood a family bereavement will prevent Ms O'Hare from travelling, however.

Nonetheless, Sinn Féin chief negotiator Martin McGuinness last night welcomed the State Department's turnaround.

"There was concern at the recent refusal of a visa waiver for Rita," he said.

"She has been travelling to the US for some years to ensure the continuing strong US support for the peace process."

Supporters in the US remain a crucial source of funding for Sinn Féin.