Blair urged to discourage Bush from hosting SF

British Prime Minister Tony Blair was pressured by the fathers of two Omagh bomb victims today to urge President George Bush not to entertain Sinn Féin or loyalist representatives in the White House next month on St Patrick’s Day.

Victor Barker and Michael Gallagher, whose sons died in the bombing, wrote to Mr Blair asking him to convey to the President their concerns as a matter of urgency.

They also wrote to the US ambassador to Dublin, James Kenny, making a similar request.

In the letters the two men said that as active campaigners against the scourge of terrorism they had drawn great comfort from the determination of the President and Prime Minister to confront “this evil of our time”.

They added: “It therefore horrifies us, and will horrify tens of thousands of other people bereaved or wounded by Irish terrorism, to hear that despite the collapse of the peace process, he is being asked by the Irish government and Irish-Americans to entertain terrorists and their supporters at the White House on St Patrick’s Day.

“Worse still, we are told that the British government is reluctant to use its effective veto to prevent this obscenity.”

They said to have such people in the White House would be “the most terrible slap in the face” to the victims of terrorism.

What would send out the signal that violence and criminality would not be tolerated would be to invite only exclusively-democratic politicians and deny visa waivers to loyalists and republicans with records.

The letters said they were law-abiding people who sought only justice. “We do not want to have to kick up a fuss and picket embassies, but if we have to, we will,” they warned.

It has been tradition since the Clinton era and the start of the IRA and loyalists' ceasefires to entertain republicans and loyalists on St Patrick’s Day alongside Irish politicians.

In the wake of the IRA being accused of carrying out the £26.5m (€37.8m) Northern Bank robbery in Belfast and the collapse of the peace process, the US administration is considering whether Sinn Féin should be invited.

No final decision has been made, but sources within the Bush administration have indicated that it may invite none of the Northern Ireland parties this year.