Adams is likely to visit the US next month

Adams Granted US Visa

Mr Adams was denied a visa when the IRA abandoned its ceasefire in 1996. The decision to grant the visa was based on the renewal of the IRA ceasefire, on 20 July this year.

After making the announcement of the visa decision, State Department spokesman Jamie Rubin was asked if there were any restrictions attached to the visa. "With regard to the restrictions on fundraising, which is usually the question, there are none," he said.

Mr Adams requires a visa because of what US officials say was "his previous involvement in terrorist activities". Most British and Irish citizens do not require a visa to enter the US.

The Sinn Fein leader plans to visit the US in the first week of September. Although he will not go to the White House - President Clinton was reported to be furious when the IRA ceasefire ended just days after his meeting with Mr Adams in 1996 - he will meet with senior figures in the Administration.

After two days in Washington, Mr Adams, accompanied by chief negotiator Martin McGuinness, will go onto New York for a gala fundraising dinner. Guests will pay around $500 to sit with the republican leaders.

In an interview with the New York Times last weekend, Mr Adams declared: "The U.S. trip is about enlisting support for a democratic peace settlement, for the notion of Irish unity, for an end to the British occupation of Northern Ireland."

The American decision was described as "premature by Ken Maginnis, the Ulster Unionist's Security Spokesman. He added that he was not surprised by it, saying it was because Mo Mowlam, the Northern Ireland Secretary, had gone back on her word to judge Sinn Fein's entry to next month's All-Party talks on the party's words and deeds and the continuation of the IRA ceasefire.