Taoiseach to meet US business leaders today

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has arrived in New York for the latest leg of his St Patrick's visit to the United States.

Mr Kenny is having a "private day", where he is expected to meet the heads of a number of US multinationals that have operations in Ireland.

Last night at Notre Dame University in Indiana, he gave an Irish passport to the college's President Emeritus Theodore, Hesburgh.

Fr Hesburgh's grandfather Martin Murphy came to the US from Ireland in 1857 as a one-year-old child.

Presenting the passport, Enda Kenny said it was by way of recognition from the Irish Government and the Irish people of a truly great Irish-American figure, and a truly great citizen of the United States and Ireland.

Yesterday, in sweltering 27C heat, almost unheard of for this time of the year in Chicago, he attended the St Patrick's Day Parade.