Harney defends Bush visit and praises US-Irish relations

The Tánaiste, Mary Harney, has defended US President George W Bush’s visit to Ireland this weekend.

Ms Harney said today that, while the Government may not support all aspects of Mr Bush’s foreign policies, she would be welcoming him to Ireland as it would be improper not to do so.

“President Bush is coming here as President of the United States of America, a country with which we have extraordinarily friendly relations, both politically-friendly relations and economically-friendly relations, and it would be highly improper of us not to facilitate and host this meeting here in Ireland as part of our EU presidency,” she said.