WASHINGTON, March 14 (UPI) -- The State Department said Monday Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams will not raise funds during his current U.S. visit.
"Sinn Fein has earlier stated in public that it would not raise funds during Gerry Adams's current U.S. visit," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told a briefing in Washington. "That was Sinn Fein's decision."
The Bush administration announced a number of measures against Sinn Fein during Adams' traditional St. Patrick's Day week visit.
The measures include being removed, along with leaders of other Northern Ireland political parties, from President Bush's guest list for the traditional celebration of Ireland's patron saint and the cancellation of Adams' appointment to meet with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.
The slights came in the face of a wealth of problems in which Sinn Fein became embroiled since December, threatening the Northern Ireland peace process.
Addressing a meeting in New York, Adams acknowledged, "I think that it's very, very important that ... we have the broad support of people here" in the United States.
Sinn Fein is the political arm of the Irish Republican Army.
