The chairman of the North talks process, Senator George Mitchell, has described President Clinton's role in the process as "critical" and said "there would not have been an agreement without his role and participation which began many years ago".
Mr Mitchell made his comments before briefing the President yesterday on Friday's Northern Ireland Agreement in Stormont. After that meeting Mr Clinton said he has not yet decided if he will visit Northern Ireland during next month's referendum campaign and he will await advice from the Irish and British governments and the Northern political parties.
"If it would help of course I would be willing to go," President Clinton responded. "If they said I should go I'd be happy to go," he continued. "But it would be up to them."
He also said he has not yet given thought to who will replace Ms Jean Kennedy Smith as he has been too busy with other matters.
Mr Clinton said all efforts now should be focused on getting the facts of the agreement out to the people in Northern Ireland and in the Republic. He was ready to do whatever he could to help. The role of the US was essentially a "supportive" one.
Mr Mitchell is keen Mr Clinton should visit the North next month to urge support for a Yes vote in the referendum on the agreement. In a CNN interview yesterday, Mr Mitchell said: "President Clinton is enormously popular on all sides and I think a visit by him would help gain approval and support for this agreement when the voters vote on May 22nd."
In other interviews, Mr Mitchell expressed concern about the likelihood of violence before and after the referendum and the danger of the planned Northern Ireland Assembly could "collapse in acrimony" within 18 months.
Mr Mitchell told ABC News he expected the men of violence "to step up their activities between now and the date of the referendum and thereafter . . . but I hope it won't destabilise the process".
There was still a long way to go for peace. "The agreement does not finalise peace. It creates the opportunity for peace and reconciliation," he said. He insisted, however, "the men of violence do not hold the key to Northern Ireland's future".
"They offer more years of death and destruction, bloodshed and fear and that's not what the people in Northern Ireland want."
Dealing with the widespread scepticism he has encountered in the North that there can ever be a lasting peace, Mr Mitchell said he hoped this agreement would be "the first step to reversing that attitude as well as bringing about a long-term peaceful settlement.
Asked whether a US investment plan for Northern Ireland was possible or necessary, Mr Mitchell said he thought it was.
"Economic growth and job creation is the solvent for most problems in every society. It is desperately needed there and if people really want to help, the best way to help is trade, investment, job creation."
Geraldine Kennedy adds from Dublin:
The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, has urged the leaders of both the nationalist and unionist communities to be moderate in the claims they make about the agreement.
He warned yesterday that inflated arguments which excited one set of supporters might frighten others, whose co-operation might be vital if the agreement was to work.
The most critical test of the agreement would come with the Assembly election on June 25th, Mr Bruton said, adding that unless they produced a moderate majority in both communities there would be difficulty in converting the agreement into a lasting settlement.