Biden: peace has made Northern Ireland whole

“Northern Ireland will not go back, pray God,” declared US President Joe Biden from Belfast during his historic trip to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement – a peace deal which helped bring 30 years of violent conflict to an end.

Biden, who’s been labelled the “most Irish” president since JFK, met with Rishi Sunak and leaders from Northern Ireland’s five main political parties in Belfast today, before jetting off to the Republic of Ireland for a two-and-a-half day tour where he will address Irish parliament in Dublin and visit two of his family’s ancestral homes in the counties of Louth and Mayo.

Speaking at Ulster University in Belfast, Biden struck an optimistic note. Northern Ireland was “made whole” by peace and recommitting to this peace should be the birth right of “every child of Northern Ireland for all the days to come,” he said. The US President also commended political parties in Belfast for coming together after the attempted murder of Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell by suspected dissident republicans in February.

Yet beneath Biden’s optimistic words lies disappointment.

A trip intended to mark the progress made since the peace deal has been undermined by the fact that Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government – established as a result of the Good Friday Agreement – is still not functioning. 

Biden hoped his trip would serve as an opportunity to celebrate an end to the political stalemate at Stormont. He had anticipated that Sunak’s newly negotiated deal for post-Brexit trading rules in Northern Ireland would encourage the DUP – who pulled out of power-sharing in opposition to the Northern Ireland protocol – to return to the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont. But, after the DUP voted down Sunak’s Windsor agreement, the parties remain in a bitter deadlock.

This means Biden did not visit Stormont today, instead simply holding a brief meeting with Northern Ireland’s political leaders at Ulster university before his speech. 

During the speech to mark opening the university’s new campus, he expressed hope that “the Assembly and the Executive will soon be restored.” And he dangled a financial incentive to encourage the DUP to return to Stormont. 


Biden reminded the audience of the readiness of the US “to support Northern Ireland’s vast economic potential” while pointedly adding that the Windsor Framework offers “stability and predictability” – the kind of stability required to encourage foreign investment. 


Yet he trod carefully, quickly adding that the decision to restore power-sharing was “a judgment for you to make, not me” – while while avoiding any direct attack on the DUP. 

“He made it clear that he’s not here to interfere,” insisted DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson, adding that Biden’s visit did not change the “political dynamic”. 

The disproportionate time Biden is spending in the Republic of Ireland has not gone unnoticed, with some warning his apparent eagerness to travel South risks offending unionists. Others say it was kept short to avoid the President making any political gaffes. 

After arriving in Dublin, Biden, whose son Hunter and sister Valerie were with him on the trip, travelled to Co Louth, the region where one of his great-great-grandfathers left for America in 1849. He was greeted by crowds lining the streets, a scene which will no doubt go down well with Irish voters back home as the president pins his hopes on a second term. 

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