US President Joe Biden has praised Northern Ireland’s young people, saying they are at the “cutting edge” of its future during his visit to Belfast. Earlier he met Prime Minister Rishi Sunak before briefly speaking to some of Stormont’s political party leaders. He is on a four-day visit to Ireland to mark 25 years since the Good Friday peace agreement, which ended decades of violent conflict in Northern Ireland. He hailed the “tremendous progress” since the deal was signed in 1998. “This place is transformed by peace; made technicolor by peace; made whole by peace,” he said. He hailed Northern Ireland as a “churn of creativity”, having produced some of the world’s most popular films and TV series over the past decade, and said that major economic opportunities for the region were “just beginning”.
President Biden was speaking as he opened the new Ulster University campus in Belfast, his only official engagement in Northern Ireland. His visit comes at a time when Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government at Stormont is not functioning. It collapsed last year when the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) – one of the biggest parties – pulled out as part of a protest against post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland. Mr Biden urged politicians to make a return to governing but praised them for their unity after the attempted murder of one of Northern Ireland’s top detectives in February. John Caldwell was shot several times by two gunmen in Omagh, County Tyrone.
During his speech, the president said: “Northern Ireland will not go back [to violence].” Mr Sunak visited Mr Caldwell and his family at a hospital on Wednesday afternoon. Before briefly meeting the political leaders, Mr Biden was asked what he would say to them – he answered: “I’m going to listen.” After leaving Belfast early on Wednesday afternoon, he flew on Air Force One the Republic of Ireland where he is continuing his tour of the island. He is to due to meet the Irish President Michael D Higgins and speak to politicians at the Oireachtas (Irish parliament) on Thursday and will meet some of his Irish relatives in County Mayo on Friday. His sister Valerie and his son Hunter have joined him for the Ireland trip.
President Biden managed to deliver a speech that hit all the right notes with the invited audience. As he left the stage he was swamped by people armed with their phones for a selfie. His speech was pitched at reminding people what is at stake – peace, said Mr Biden, cannot be taken for granted. He reminded those in the room about the risks taken 25 years ago by the architects of the Good Friday Agreement. Democracy in Northern Ireland needs champions now to do the same, he added. While he didn’t namecheck the DUP it was clear to whom he was directing those comments about getting Stormont back up and running. Before Mr Biden’s address in Belfast, US Special Envoy Joe Kennedy spoke about the significance of American investment in Northern Ireland.
“Some of the biggest companies in the world have set up shop here and now entrepreneurs with dreams to outcompete them are following,” he said. “I look forward to drawing on your energy and your ideas and to making sure that we bring prosperity to all corners of Northern Ireland.” After listening to Mr Biden’s speech at the university, Michelle O’Neill, the vice-president of Sinn Féin, the largest party at Stormont, said the message was “one of hope and opportunity”. DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said he did not get a sense that the president was urging his party to do more to restore power-sharing during their brief private discussion. “Like all of us, he wants to see the political institutions up and running again but we are very clear that can only happen when we have got the solid foundations that we need,” he added.
Alliance Party leader Naomi Long described President Biden’s speech as “positive, balanced, optimistic and hopeful for the future”. Doug Beattie, the Ulster Unionist Party leader, said the meeting with Mr Biden was a fleeting “grip and grin” engagement. SDLP leader Colum Eastwood described his conversation with the president as “positive”. Mr Biden arrived in Belfast city centre on Tuesday night, having been greeted by Mr Sunak as he stepped off Air Force One at Belfast International Airport.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said the huge security plan put in place for the presidential visit was its biggest for years. Some 2,900 officers were deployed as part of the £7m operation. But the PSNI is investigating a security breach after a document that appears to give details of the operation was found on a street in the city by a member of the public. BBC Radio Ulster’s The Nolan Show was shown the document, which is marked: “PSNI and sensitive.” It names police officers who were in charge of the area around the hotel in which Mr Biden had stayed.
“We take the safety of visiting dignitaries, members of the public and our officers and staff extremely seriously,” said the PSNI. Declan Harvey and Tara Mills explore the text of the Good Friday Agreement – the deal which heralded the end of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. They look at what the agreement actually said and hear from some of the people who helped get the deal across the line. Listen to all episodes of Year ’98: The Making of the Good Friday Agreement on BBC Sounds.
