Shortly after Sinn Féin delegates had cheered Gerry Adams's presidential address to the rafters, the newly appointed American ambassador to Ireland, Mr Richard J. Egan, hurried out of the RDS Library.
Rushing into his chauffeur-driven car, he ignored journalists' calls for an interview about Mr Adams' declaration that the IRA could not be compared to Osama bin Laden's attackers.
For Sinn Féin, however, Mr Egan's attendance was a significant diplomatic gesture from the Bush Administration, even if he looked like a man who wished he were somewhere else.
Under the usually rigid protocol rules that govern ambassadors' movements, Mr Egan should have been in Cork for the Labour National Conference, along with the rest of the diplomatic corps.
Before the applause for Mr Adams had died down, he had been ushered into a small room where television crews and photographers were carefully fed through to capture a handshake between him and Mr Adams.
The photograph will, no doubt, feature in the promotional literature of the Friends of Sinn Féin in the United States as they try to raise funds in a dramatically changed atmosphere.
The importance of the United States for Sinn Féin, financially and otherwise, was evident throughout. Again and again, Mr Adams and senior party figures condemned the September 11th atrocities.
Irish Times, October 1, 2001.