Mrs Hillary Rodham Clinton, wife of President Clinton, is expected to visit Northern Ireland later this year, according to reports in Washington political circles.
Mrs Clinton has been invited to give a lecture in the New University of Ulster (NUU) in memory of Mrs Joyce McCartan, the woman who entertained her to tea and buns on the Ormeau Road in Belfast during the visit of the Clintons in November 1995.
Mrs McCartan died later but she had made a big impression on Mrs Clinton by her attitude towards improving community relations.
A visit by Mrs Clinton to Northern Ireland at this time would clearly be seen as a further boost to the peace process which the US Administration is strongly supporting. The NUU has been trying, for almost a year, to get Mrs Clinton to accept the invitation. The renewed IRA ceasefire has probably cleared the way for her to accept the invitation.