Stella O’Leary of Irish American Democrats and hotelier John Fitzpatrick, a long-time backer of the Clintons joined Hillary on the Irish trip.

They were pleasantly surprised on Sunday evening in Belfast when they got an unscheduled meeting with Clinton for 45 minutes, and they took the opportunity to brief her on Irish American issues.

O’Leary is a front-runner for the position of observer to the International Fund for Ireland, one of the three Irish jobs that is handled by the administration, the others being ambassador and special envoy.