Sisters’ US visit - McCartney murder test case for SF

AT about this time every year the US media looks for stories about Ireland.

Television stations inevitably play old movies, so they are particularly keen to give prominence to new stories. The usual Irish procession to the White House was getting almost as stale as the annual reruns of The Quiet Man, but the visit of the McCartney sisters offered something fresh.

Even if President George W Bush and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern played down the McCartney affair somewhat in their actual remarks yesterday, there was no doubt that the visit of Robert McCartney’s sisters and partner was the main Irish story of the week.