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BOSTON, Massachusetts -- U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy has called off talks with Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams set for St. Patrick's Day.
The decision to scrap Thursday's meeting added to mounting pressure on the Irish republican leadership following the alleged involvement of the Irish Republican Army in the killing of a Roman Catholic man in Northern Ireland.
Adams has already been refused a meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House and will not be attending the St. Patrick's Day lunch hosted by U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
It is the first time since Northern Ireland's 1998 Good Friday peace accord that Kennedy, a Democratic Irish-American senator from Massachusetts, has refused to meet Adams on St. Patrick's Day.
In a statement, Kennedy spokeswoman Melissa Wagoner cited "the IRA's ongoing criminal activity and contempt for the rule of law" as the reason for Kennedy's decision.
"Sinn Fein cannot be a fully democratic party with the IRA albatross around its neck," The Associated Press quoted her as saying. "The time for decisive and final action is long overdue."
Sinn Fein is reeling from accusations that the IRA mounted the world's largest bank robbery, stealing .26.5 million ($50 million) from a Belfast bank on December 20, and was responsible for killing Robert McCartney outside a Belfast pub on January 30.
Adams had been banned from visiting the United States until 1994, when then-President Bill Clinton overturned State Department policy to encourage an IRA cease-fire.
This year marks the first time since 1995 that Adams hasn't been invited to the White House on St. Patrick's Day.
Instead Bush is set to welcome the sisters of McCartney, a 33-year-old forklift truck driver who was beaten and stabbed to death in a bar fight. He lived in a working-class Catholic district considered an IRA heartland.
Nobody has been charged with the murder despite the attack taking place at a crowded pub and allegedly involving well-known local IRA figures.
The IRA initially denied any involvement in the killing. Last week, though, it said held a meeting with McCartney's sisters and fiancee, during which it "stated in clear terms that the IRA was prepared to shoot the people directly involved." The victim's family rejected the offer, it added.
CNN European Political Editor Robin Oakley said the shooting and the IRA's unprecedented public offer had horrified the political community.
The British and Irish prime ministers, Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, both denounced the IRA's offer as bizarre.
The outrage over the offer quickly spread to Washington, where U.S. special envoy Mitchell Reiss said it was "time for the IRA to go out of business."
One of Sinn Fein's top supporters in the U.S. Congress, New York Republican Sen. Peter King, also has called on the IRA to disband.
King said the IRA had made a series of poor decisions that had sparked anger in Irish-American circles.
He said it was now standing in the way of a powersharing deal between Sinn Fein and Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists and that Americans were finding it "hard to see what the justification is for the continued existence of the IRA."
The decision to scrap Thursday's meeting added to mounting pressure on the Irish republican leadership following the alleged involvement of the Irish Republican Army in the killing of a Roman Catholic man in Northern Ireland.
Adams has already been refused a meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House and will not be attending the St. Patrick's Day lunch hosted by U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
It is the first time since Northern Ireland's 1998 Good Friday peace accord that Kennedy, a Democratic Irish-American senator from Massachusetts, has refused to meet Adams on St. Patrick's Day.
In a statement, Kennedy spokeswoman Melissa Wagoner cited "the IRA's ongoing criminal activity and contempt for the rule of law" as the reason for Kennedy's decision.
"Sinn Fein cannot be a fully democratic party with the IRA albatross around its neck," The Associated Press quoted her as saying. "The time for decisive and final action is long overdue."
Sinn Fein is reeling from accusations that the IRA mounted the world's largest bank robbery, stealing .26.5 million ($50 million) from a Belfast bank on December 20, and was responsible for killing Robert McCartney outside a Belfast pub on January 30.
Adams had been banned from visiting the United States until 1994, when then-President Bill Clinton overturned State Department policy to encourage an IRA cease-fire.
This year marks the first time since 1995 that Adams hasn't been invited to the White House on St. Patrick's Day.
Instead Bush is set to welcome the sisters of McCartney, a 33-year-old forklift truck driver who was beaten and stabbed to death in a bar fight. He lived in a working-class Catholic district considered an IRA heartland.
Nobody has been charged with the murder despite the attack taking place at a crowded pub and allegedly involving well-known local IRA figures.
The IRA initially denied any involvement in the killing. Last week, though, it said held a meeting with McCartney's sisters and fiancee, during which it "stated in clear terms that the IRA was prepared to shoot the people directly involved." The victim's family rejected the offer, it added.
CNN European Political Editor Robin Oakley said the shooting and the IRA's unprecedented public offer had horrified the political community.
The British and Irish prime ministers, Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, both denounced the IRA's offer as bizarre.
The outrage over the offer quickly spread to Washington, where U.S. special envoy Mitchell Reiss said it was "time for the IRA to go out of business."
One of Sinn Fein's top supporters in the U.S. Congress, New York Republican Sen. Peter King, also has called on the IRA to disband.
King said the IRA had made a series of poor decisions that had sparked anger in Irish-American circles.
He said it was now standing in the way of a powersharing deal between Sinn Fein and Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists and that Americans were finding it "hard to see what the justification is for the continued existence of the IRA."
Finally the Americans are putting real pressure on these scum. It always amazed me that despite the lofty goals of Bush's 'War on Terror', the administration was quite willing to jump into bed with Sinn Fein. For a while it seemed to me that you also had to be Muslim for Bush's 'War on Terror' to apply against you.
So, instead of having a drink in the White House, poor Gerry Adams will spend St. Patrick's Day crying into his pint in the local. It's a pity that these incidents had to take place before the Americans were willing to act. A small step towards justice regardless.
Bush
Kennedy
Sinn Fein/IRA
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