Biden Voices Hope for Government Renewal in Northern Ireland

Patsy Widakuswara/VOA News

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden told people in Belfast on Wednesday that he hoped Northern Ireland’s devolved power-sharing government could soon be restored, promising that American corporations were ready to invest in the region.

“Many have already made homes in Northern Ireland, employing over 30,000 people,” he said, adding that in the past decade, American business has generated almost $2 billion in investment in the region.

In a speech hailing 25 years of peace in the region, Biden told hundreds of people at Ulster University that the democratic institutions that established the Good Friday Agreement remained critical.

The peace deal helped end 30 years of bloody conflict over whether Northern Ireland should unify with Ireland or remain part of the United Kingdom.

“An effective devolved government that reflects the people of Northern Ireland and is accountable to them, a government that works to find ways through hard problems together, is going to draw even greater opportunity to this region,” Biden said. “So I hope the assembly and the executive will soon be restored.”

Biden was referring to the region’s place in the U.K., in which the government in London has transferred a wide range of powers to Stormont, the Northern Ireland Assembly where local politicians instead of lawmakers in London make key decisions.

Fraught with conflict

In practice, power sharing in Northern Ireland has been fraught with conflict, mainly between the two dominant political parties — the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which favors continued governance with London, and Sinn Fein, which broadly favors reunification with Ireland.

Since it was established in 1998, the government has collapsed numerous times because of boycotts by various parties, the latest one in February 2022 when the DUP boycotted to protest the Northern Ireland Protocol, a post-Brexit agreement between the U.K. and the European Union for Northern Ireland to maintain an open border and allow trade to continue with the Republic of Ireland, an EU member.

Under the protocol, while Northern Ireland remains in U.K. customs territory, it is also part of the EU’s single market, requiring checks and additional documentation for certain goods imported into Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K. Because of the region’s history of conflict, many people are uneasy with border checks.

The DUP also refused to endorse the Windsor Framework, a deal adopted in March that was designed to fix trade issues, including by reducing the number of checks on goods between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K.

Biden-Sunak meeting

In Belfast, Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reaffirmed their commitment to the Good Friday Agreement and welcomed the Windsor Framework as an important step in preserving peace, according to a White House statement following their meeting.

Earlier this week, Sunak called on parties in dispute to “get on with the business of governance.”

Biden was more cautious in his comments on the Stormont logjam.

“I’m going to listen,” Biden said in response to a reporter’s question on what he was going to say to the Northern Ireland political parties that he met later Wednesday.

DUP’s leader, Jeffrey Donaldson, said Biden’s visit would not move his party’s position.

“It doesn’t change the political dynamic in Northern Ireland. We know what needs to happen,” he said, underscoring that the British government must do more to protect the region’s place within the United Kingdom and its ability to trade within the U.K. internal market.

Irish heritage

Biden, who often highlights his Irish heritage, stayed less than 24 hours in Northern Ireland before heading to Ireland, where he will stay until Friday night.

Immediately after landing in Dublin, Biden traveled to County Louth, home to his maternal great-great-grandfather, shoemaker Owen Finnegan, and toured Carlingford Castle. According to the White House, that would have been the last Irish landmark that Finnegan saw before departing for New York on March 31, 1849. Finnegan’s family, including his son James, Biden’s great-grandfather, followed him in 1850.

Meeting local residents at a pub in Dundalk, Biden spoke fondly of his roots, repeating the story he told during his 2016 visit to Ireland about Finnegan and Joseph Kearney, President Barack Obama’s great-great-grandfather who was also a shoemaker from a nearby county and emigrated to the U.S. around the same time.

“In all of their dreams, I’m not sure they could have imagined that 175 years later both their great-great-grandchild would be president of the United States of America, Barack Obama and Joe Biden,” he said.

On Thursday, Biden will hold talks with Ireland President Michael D. Higgins and Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar, and deliver remarks to the Houses of the Oireachtas — the Irish parliament.

Biden will end his trip with a Friday night speech in Ballina, home of his paternal ancestors, on the west coast of Ireland.

Ken Bredemeier contributed to this report.