Rafferty family to receive White House invitation today

The family of murdered Dublin man Joseph Rafferty are making arrangements to travel to the White House for St Patrick's Day after confirmation they will receive the invitation today.

The family maintains Joseph was killed by a former IRA gunman and believe Sinn Féin could identify the killer.

There was some confusion last weekwhether they would be invited to the formal gathering in Washington.

Joseph's sister Esther Uzell said she was unconvinced the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern supported their campaign to meet President Bush.

“We did put a lot of pressure on the Taoiseach in the last week and a half. We feel we are entitled to be there, and we want to be there to step up our campaign," she said.

“I still don’t know who put the pressure on to get the invitation, but all I do know is that I got confirmation from the embassy yesterday that we should receive the invitation today,” she said.