‘Keep the peace’: Biden begins Northern Ireland, Ireland trip

United States President Joe Biden has arrived in Northern Ireland on Tuesday, where he is set to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. His trip will also include a three-day visit to the Republic of Ireland.Speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One, Biden said the trip would seek to assure the lasting legacy of the deal, brokered by Washington and ratified by London and Dublin.

The Good Friday Agreement, also known as the Belfast Agreement, established a fragile peace between unionist parties wanting Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom and nationalists favouring unification with the Republic of Ireland. The breakthrough largely ended three decades of violence that left more than 3,500 people dead.

Biden said his trip would also seek to support a contentious trade deal between the UK and European Union, known as the Windsor Framework, reached in the wake of Brexit.

Though the UK, and therefore Northern Ireland, have left the EU, the Republic of Ireland remains part of the European alliance. The Windsor Framework awards special status to Northern Ireland in order to keep its border open with the Republic of Ireland, thereby avoiding any historically contentious divisions.

The deal has nevertheless faced entrenched opposition from Northern Ireland’s pro-UK Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which has boycotted forming a government since May, threatening the delicate power-sharing agreement reached in the 1998 Good Friday deal.

Biden told reporters the priority of the trip was to “make sure the Irish accords and the Windsor agreement stay in place, to keep the peace”.

“That’s the main thing,” he added. “And it looks like we’re going to — keep your fingers crossed.”

Biden is set to meet with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on the tarmac in Belfast on Tuesday.

The next day, he will give a speech at Ulster University in Belfast, “marking the tremendous progress” since the 1998 peace accords were signed, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.