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Irish PM in U.S. for St. Paddy`s Day

The Prime Minister of the Irish Republic, Bertie Ahern, will present U.S. President George W. Bush with a shamrock bowl to kick-start St. Patrick?s Day celebrations in both the United States, and worldwide, on March 17. Ahern`s trip will take him from Washington across the country to California.

Aside from the celebrations, Ahern will also address the growing concern on efforts to help illegal Irish immigrants currently in the US. He will be encouraging those efforts in his meeting with Bush, and in a series of events on Capitol Hill on Thursday.

The prime minister will visit San Jose, California for a number of trade related engagements later in the trip, marking the city`s now 20-year-old sister-city relationship with the Irish capital of Dublin. Ahern will be meeting a number of business leaders from Silicon Valley with the aim of strengthening links with the Irish economy, which has flourished in recent years.