Gerry Adams (centre) attends the annual shamrock presentation ceremony at the White House in Washington DC

Gerry Adams with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio at a St Patrick's Day breakfast event at Gracie Mansion in New York.

Sinn Fein's former leader Gerry Adams has been honoured at a St Patrick's Day breakfast event hosted by the mayor of New York on Saturday.

Mayor Bill De Blasio paid tribute to Adam's contribution to the peace process in Northern Ireland. He commended the Irish republican politician's recognition of "power of peace" and named March 17, 2018 as Gerry Adams Day.

The event was also attended by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

According to the Journal.ie, the mayor said that Adams "did not accept injustice and he fought against it."

De Blasio said: "He understood there was no place in this world anymore for colonialism and he fought against it... great ideas never die.

"I want to honour him for pursuit of a goal that makes so much sense - a goal for a United Ireland."

.@GerryAdamsSF receives a proclamation from Mayor Bill De Blasio and names today as Gerry Adams day. pic.twitter.com/ndat4yIsSP — Sinn Féin (@sinnfeinireland) March 17, 2018

Belfast Telegraph