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London: Joe Biden has called on Northern Ireland’s political leaders to restore power-sharing at Stormont, the province’s devolved parliament, vowing the United States would be a partner for peace.
Speaking at Ulster University in Belfast on Wednesday, the US president made a direct call for the unionists and republicans to return to a central pillar of the Good Friday Agreement which was a shared government between those who want to remain part of the United Kingdom and those who favour a united Ireland.
US President Joe Biden delivers his keynote speech at Ulster University in Belfast.Credit: PA
He marked this week’s 25th anniversary of the 1998 accord, which ended three decades of conflict known as The Troubles, by dangling a £5 billion ($9.3 billion) carrot in front of Northern Ireland’s leaders with a promise to boost the country’s economy with US investment if the power-sharing government was restored.
The Democratic Unionist Party collapsed the executive in May 2022 over objections to post-Brexit trading arrangements. Biden met Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP’s leader, before his speech, as well as the leaders of other major Northern Irish parties.
“Peace and economic opportunity go together,” Biden said during his remarks, predicting many American businesses were ready to invest in Northern Ireland.
“As a friend, I hope it’s not too presumptuous of me to say that I believe democratic institutions established in the Good Friday Agreement remain critical for the future of Northern Ireland. That’s a judgment for you to make, not me… but I hope it happens.”
Biden earlier had met separately with the leaders of the five parties that made up the pact, during which he stressed the importance of resuming the arrangement as part of the peace deal.
The UK government had hoped the so-called Windsor framework – an Irish Sea border treaty with the European Union – would pave the way for the restoration of the devolved parliament ahead of Biden’s visit.
More than 300 officers from Britain have been drafted across the Irish Sea amid warnings of possible political violence, with British security agencies recently raising Northern Ireland’s terrorism threat level to severe, meaning an attack was highly likely.
US President Joe Biden delivers a speech at Ulster University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Credit: Getty
Biden directly referenced the historical conflict, which killed more than 3600 people between the late 1960s and late 1990s during his speech at the new campus, which cost millions of pounds to construct and can accommodate thousands of students.
“The idea to have a glass building here when I was here in ’91 was highly unlikely,” Biden said.
“Where barbed wire once sliced up the city, today we find a cathedral of learning, built of glass to let the light shine in and out. It just has a profound impact,” he said. “And for someone who’s come back to see it, you know it’s an incredible testament to the power and the possibilities of peace.”
He said the peace deal, brokered with heavy involvement from the United States, was also a rare glimmer of bipartisanship in Washington.
People line the streets as President Joe Biden visits Dundalk, Ireland.Credit: AP
“Protecting the peace, preserving the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement is a priority for Democrats and Republicans alike in the United States,” he said. “And that is unusual today. Because we’ve been very divided on our parties. This is something that brings Washington together. It brings America together.”
Biden travelled to Dublin later on Wednesday for several days of engagements in the Republic of Ireland, including a retracing of the Irish-American president’s ancestry.
But his brief trip to Northern Ireland has raised questions among some in the UK about Biden’s commitment to Britain. Unionists believe Biden, who often celebrates his Irish roots, supports a united Ireland.
Baroness Arlene Foster, a former DUP first minister, told right-leaning GB News that Biden “hates the UK” and was “seen by so many people as pro-republican and pro-nationalist”.
It forced senior officials to reject the claim, with Amanda Sloat, a senior director for Europe at the National Security Council, telling media his track record “shows that he’s not anti-British”.
“The president has been very actively engaged throughout his career, dating back to when he was a senator, in the peace process in Northern Ireland,” she said.
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