When he visits Belfast this evening, US Vice President Joe Biden plans to emphasize his country’s commitment to preserving peace in Northern Ireland.
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday peace agreement, he will visit the city.
The 1998 agreement ended the decades-long, violent conflict in Northern Ireland in which thousands of people were murdered.
Belfast has already initiated a massive security operation in preparation for the visit.
While Mr. Biden has praised the efforts of politicians to secure peace in 1998, his visit is overshadowed by the dysfunction of Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government.
In a protest against post-Brexit trade regulations for Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), one of the largest parties at Stormont, withdrew from the agreement last year, causing its collapse.
Mr. Biden stated before his arrival, “I look forward to commemorating the anniversary in Belfast, highlighting the United States’ commitment to preserving peace and fostering prosperity.”
He will discuss and meet Irish relatives during his four-day visit to Belfast.
Mr. Biden’s trip occurs two weeks after MI5 reported that the degree of the terrorism threat in Northern Ireland had increased due to a rise in dissident Republican activity.
On Monday, during an illegal parade by dissident republicans in Londonderry, petrol bombs were hurled at a police vehicle, but the violence was contained to a small area and subsided quickly.
Despite the terrorist threat, the president’s spokesman stated that Mr. Biden was “more than comfortable” making this voyage.
On Monday, the 80-year-old gave another hint that he would run for re-election in 2024, stating that he intended to do so but was “not ready to announce it yet.”
Where is Joe Biden located in Northern Ireland?
Air Force One will depart Washington, DC on Tuesday evening and land at Belfast International Airport.
He will be greeted upon arrival by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
He may stay at a Belfast city centre hotel on Tuesday night.
His trip to Northern Ireland will be much shorter than anticipated when it was disclosed a month ago.
However, Downing Street has refuted claims that President Biden’s visit to Northern Ireland will be “low-key.”
The press secretary for Mr. Sunak stated, “I would not characterize it as such. The prime minister will see him tonight and again the following day.”
Mr. Biden will depart Belfast on Wednesday afternoon and travel to the Republic of Ireland for engagements in the counties of Louth and Mayo, where he has relatives, as well as Dublin, before departing on Friday.
What will Joe Biden do in Belfast?
The primary event will be a speech at the new Belfast campus of Ulster University.
It is expected that he will use this to emphasize the United States’ willingness to help preserve the peace and prosperity he believes have been achieved since the Good Friday Agreement.
The president is also expected to discuss how the US administration can support the economy of Northern Ireland.
He will meet with Stormont’s five major political parties during his brief visit.
Since Monday afternoon, Belfast’s centre has been surrounded by police.
Police guard barricades at the Grand Central Hotel on Bedford Street, but pedestrians and businesses may move freely.
There has been some tension regarding the specifics of this visit behind the scenes.
Relations between Downing Street and the White House have been fraught over the president’s actions in Northern Ireland and his refusal to visit Stormont.
Rishi Sunak was excited to oversee the US president’s visit to the UK.
He will greet the president at the foot of Air Force One’s steps tonight, and a half-hour has been set aside for a one-on-one meeting on Wednesday, but little else is known.
During the president’s only public appearance in Belfast, the Prime Minister will not be at Ulster University with other legislators.
Given the importance of this visit, his simultaneous work in Northern Ireland is telling.
“U.S. influence must be utilized with caution”
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair said Vice President Biden’s visit could “positively” affect Stormont power-sharing.
However, he cautioned that American influence on the politics of Northern Ireland must be used with “care and sensitivity.
Mr. Blair stated, “There is a difference between influencing and pressuring. One tends to be positive and the other can be negative.”
I’ve learnt that pressuring unionists to do something they strongly oppose is pointless.
I had a close contact with President Bill Clinton outside of the peace effort and found him very helpful.
Strategically, he would instantaneously comprehend what was important and what was not.
Daniel Mulhall, the former Irish ambassador to the United States, stated that Mr. Biden would have preferred to address legislators in a functioning Stormont assembly.
However, he added, “His speech [at Ulster University] will be carefully crafted to convey the message that America is essentially here to assist.”
While in Belfast to visit the president, Mr. Sunak will not meet with Northern Ireland politicians.
The PM’s press secretary responded, “Not at all,” when asked if that meant he had given up on re-inviting the DUP to power-sharing.
“Biden is eight percent Irish”
President Biden frequently discusses his Irish ancestry and vowed to visit the country while in office.
An American genealogist who studied his ancestry estimated that he is “roughly five-eighths” Irish.
His great-great-grandfather was Edward Blewitt, an engineer and brickmaker from Ballina, County Mayo.
As widespread starvation resulted from the catastrophic Irish potato famine, he settled in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Owen Finnegan, the maternal great-great-grandfather of President Biden, left Carlingford, County Louth, in the late 1840s for America.
