FIRST LADY FLIES INTO ULSTER
First lady flies into Belfast
Hillary leads the advance party for President's visit
By Janet Devlin
HILLARY Clinton was due to fly into Northern Ireland today for the first leg of a whirlwind Presidential visit.
And the First Lady, who has made her first public appearance since the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke, says she feels 'just fine'.
Mrs Clinton was due to speak at a major conference in Belfast this afternoon on the advancement of women.
Before leaving Russia, where she and her husband were lending support to beleaguered leader Boris Yeltsin, she told a reporter who asked her how she had been doing in recent weeks: 'I've been doing just fine'.
Appearing jet-lagged, but otherwise happy, she deftly parried the first reference to the scandal, which is bound to cast a shadow over the Presidential tour.
Today's engagement will be first of a number by Mrs Clinton before she is joined by her husband tomorrow.
The President is returning to the city to urge all sides to make political progress. He will also lay a wreath at the site of the Omagh bombing atrocity. This is Mrs Clinton's third visit to Northern Ireland.
A spokesman for the US administration said: 'She has been keeping her eye on the situation here because it's an area where she has a keen interest and, for personal reasons, looks on it with a warm heart.' The President's wife was due to deliver a keynote address at the Women in Democracy conference at Belfast's Waterfront Hall this afternon.
The event, attended by up to 500 women from all over the British Isles as well as a group of 75 from the US, will discuss the role of women in public life and how relationships on both sides of the Irish border can be developed and strengthened.
Mo Mowlam, the Northern Ireland Secretary, David Trimble, First Minister of the new Northern Ireland Assembly and his deputy at Stormont, Seamus Mallon, have already spoken at the conference, which was initiated by President Clinton.
Mrs Clinton will spend the night at Hillsborough Castle.Tomorrow she is due to open a playground for Protestant and Catholic children in the greater Belfast area before meeting up with her husband back at the city's Waterfront Hall where he will deliver his own speech to the people of Northern Ireland Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected in Belfast later tonight and he will personally greet the President when he disembarks from Air Force One tomorrow morning.
The outgoing US ambassador to Ireland, Jean Kennedy-Smith, and Senator George Mitchell, who chaired the Northern Ireland peace talks, will be among the US delegation. Mrs Clinton will be accompanied by her chief-of-staff Melanne Verveer.
Tomorrow the President's address will be transmitted live on big screen television in the grounds of the Waterfront Hall at 11am.
Hillary leads the advance party for President's visit
By Janet Devlin
HILLARY Clinton was due to fly into Northern Ireland today for the first leg of a whirlwind Presidential visit.
And the First Lady, who has made her first public appearance since the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke, says she feels 'just fine'.
Mrs Clinton was due to speak at a major conference in Belfast this afternoon on the advancement of women.
Before leaving Russia, where she and her husband were lending support to beleaguered leader Boris Yeltsin, she told a reporter who asked her how she had been doing in recent weeks: 'I've been doing just fine'.
Appearing jet-lagged, but otherwise happy, she deftly parried the first reference to the scandal, which is bound to cast a shadow over the Presidential tour.
Today's engagement will be first of a number by Mrs Clinton before she is joined by her husband tomorrow.
The President is returning to the city to urge all sides to make political progress. He will also lay a wreath at the site of the Omagh bombing atrocity. This is Mrs Clinton's third visit to Northern Ireland.
A spokesman for the US administration said: 'She has been keeping her eye on the situation here because it's an area where she has a keen interest and, for personal reasons, looks on it with a warm heart.' The President's wife was due to deliver a keynote address at the Women in Democracy conference at Belfast's Waterfront Hall this afternon.
The event, attended by up to 500 women from all over the British Isles as well as a group of 75 from the US, will discuss the role of women in public life and how relationships on both sides of the Irish border can be developed and strengthened.
Mo Mowlam, the Northern Ireland Secretary, David Trimble, First Minister of the new Northern Ireland Assembly and his deputy at Stormont, Seamus Mallon, have already spoken at the conference, which was initiated by President Clinton.
Mrs Clinton will spend the night at Hillsborough Castle.Tomorrow she is due to open a playground for Protestant and Catholic children in the greater Belfast area before meeting up with her husband back at the city's Waterfront Hall where he will deliver his own speech to the people of Northern Ireland Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected in Belfast later tonight and he will personally greet the President when he disembarks from Air Force One tomorrow morning.
The outgoing US ambassador to Ireland, Jean Kennedy-Smith, and Senator George Mitchell, who chaired the Northern Ireland peace talks, will be among the US delegation. Mrs Clinton will be accompanied by her chief-of-staff Melanne Verveer.
Tomorrow the President's address will be transmitted live on big screen television in the grounds of the Waterfront Hall at 11am.
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0635
Published Date: 02-Sep-98
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