Bush heads to Stormont
US president George Bush will fly into the North today to meet the politicians heading its power-sharing government.
Democratic Unionist First Minister Peter Robinson and Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness will welcome the president and the First Lady at Stormont Castle in Belfast.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen and British prime minister Gordon Brown will accompany Mr Bush as he assesses the progress made one year after the restoration of the region’s devolved administration.
Having been involved at various stages in the North's peace process, the president is understood to be keen to see the dividends of new political dispensation before he leaves the Oval Office at the turn of the year.
Former First Minister Ian Paisley is also expected to meet the president during his hour-long visit to Stormont. The pair apparently struck up a good rapport during the 82-year-old North Antrim MP’s visit to the States last year.
Later in the day Mr Bush is due to visit an integrated school in Belfast where he will meet Protestant and Catholic pupils who are educated alongside each other.
The First Lady will spend the afternoon attending a series of private engagements elsewhere in Belfast.
Security levels across the city have been stepped up ahead of the visit. The Stormont estate has been closed to the public since Saturday and a no-fly zone has been imposed.
Assembly business at Parliament Buildings has been cancelled to accommodate the event.
A series of anti-war demonstrations are scheduled to take place in the city centre during the visit.
Yesterday human rights activists staged a protest outside Belfast City Hall calling on the First and Deputy First Ministers to tackle Mr Bush on the US treatment of terror suspects.
Today will be the second time Mr Bush has visited the North as president.
In 2003, he attended a summit meeting with then British prime minister Tony Blair at Hillsborough Castle.
