Next week's visit to Northern Ireland by two of President Clinton's key advisers was a clear indication of the Washington administration's determination to help re-establish the North's political institutions, Mr Martin McGuinness said yesterday.
"The US administration has played a very powerful role in the peace process", he said. "I was in Washington last week and met Jim Steinberg, the deputy national security adviser to President Clinton, in the White House. I spoke to him again last night on the telephone and he told me he is coming on Tuesday with Dick Norland for two days.
"He is going to speak with all of the parties and that is obviously with a view to giving the President as much information as possible so that he can decide how to proceed in the course of the St Patrick's Day celebrations.
"It is vital that the people's institutions should be re-established as soon as possible, and obviously people within the US administration are very keen to assist and encourage people to press on with the implementation of the agreement."
Mr McGuinness described the recent upsurge in violence as a dangerous development. "I think there are dangers and we all know that there are dissident groups out there, on all sides, who are hell-bent on destroying the peace process. We need to be very conscious that this process is supported by the overwhelming majority of the people and I actually think there are too many good people behind the process for it to be destroyed by people who clearly have no support within the community."
The former education minister, who was speaking before addressing the INTO's annual conference in Derry, said that he would like to take over the education portfolio again. "In the short time that I was in the Department of Education I did my best. I had a good relationship with my officials and a great relationship with the community. Initially, there were some protests, but I went out of my way to meet the people who were protesting."