Leader of IRA Political Wing Issued U.S. Visa

The Clinton Administration issued a visa Sunday to Gerry Adams, leader of the political wing of the outlawed Irish Republican Army, overriding a two-decade-old policy that had barred him from the United States because of his links to terrorism.

A White House statement announcing the decision said President Clinton believes that permitting Adams to attend a conference in New York this week “will advance the cause of peace in Northern Ireland.”

Under the terms of the visa, Adams, leader of Sinn Fein, the IRA’s legal political front, may remain in the United States for only 48 hours and must stay within a 25-mile radius of the Waldorf Astoria, the posh mid-Manhattan hotel where the conference on Northern Ireland will be held Tuesday.

The conditions also prohibit Adams from engaging in “direct or indirect fund raising” while he is in the United States.

The White House said Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, acting on the recommendation of Secretary of State Warren Christopher, issued a waiver of the U.S. law denying visas to anyone connected with the IRA or other terrorist groups. Adams remains subject to the statute, the White House said, and will not be eligible to visit this country again without another waiver.

The State Department signaled a softening of its policy toward the Sinn Fein leader last week when it offered to give Adams a visa if he would renounce terrorism and endorse the Northern Ireland peace plan issued Dec. 15 by British Prime Minister John Major and Irish Prime Minister Albert Reynolds.

After a meeting Friday with U.S. Consul General Val Martinez in Belfast, Adams went partway toward meeting the American conditions, although he stopped short of endorsing the Major-Reynolds plan. Sinn Fein has said it will agree to participate in the peace process only if Britain agrees to some changes in the formula.

“I don’t advocate violence,” Adams said Friday. “It is my personal and political priority to see an end to the IRA and an end to all other organizations engaged in armed actions.”

He explained that he would agree to disband the IRA, but only after British troops are withdrawn from Northern Ireland.

On Sunday, the White House described the statement as “constructive.” It added that Adams “unreservedly condemned three bomb threats on Jan. 27 in San Diego reportedly claimed by the Southern California IRA.”

Although the British government objects to giving Adams such a visible public forum in the United States, the Administration came under strong pressure from backers of the conference, sponsored by the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, to permit Adams to attend. Former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger is honorary chairman of the event.

Several Irish American members of Congress, including Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.), Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.), urged the Administration to give Adams a visa in light of the progress toward peace in Northern Ireland represented by the Major-Reynolds agreement.

Supporters of Sinn Fein in Ireland and the United States were jubilant that Adams would be given a visa after having been turned down eight times over the last 20 years.

In New York, Martin Galvin, a spokesman for the Irish Northern Aid Committee, which raises funds for IRA causes, said the policy of keeping Adams out of the United States “was a damning admission that the British feared an open debate in the United States about their rule in (Northern) Ireland.”

Adams said Sunday that the purpose of his visit is to brief Irish supporters on the current peace moves and to learn the views of Irish Americans on the subject, Reuters news agency reported from Dublin.