President Joe Biden met with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to kick off a four-day trip to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. Photo by Tolga Akmen/EPA-EFE
April 12 (UPI) — President Joe Biden will deliver remarks from Northern Ireland Wednesday morning as he marks the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday peace agreement, which ended decades of violence — known as the “Troubles.”
Biden, who comes from an Irish Catholic background, is scheduled to give a speech at 8 a.m. EDT at Ulster University in Belfast to kick off the trip he said is meant to “make sure the Irish accords and the Windsor agreement stay in place, to keep the peace.”
The president met with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak earlier Wednesday as he told reporters he was “going to listen” to Northern Ireland leaders who he was scheduled to meet with later. There will be no formal group meeting following recent political violence, as Belfast police remain on high alert.
Biden touched down in Air Force One late Tuesday night, Belfast time. He was greeted on the tarmac by Sunak and James Senior, the commander of the 38th Irish Brigade and Northern Ireland garrison.
When asked last month about heightened security during his visit, Biden was not concerned, saying “they can’t keep me out.”
The Good Friday peace agreement, which ended decades of violence in Northern Ireland, was negotiated in 1998 with the help of the United States and former President Bill Clinton, who called it an example of conflict resolution.
“The fact that the Irish got a system that the culture of both sides could accept and that was good enough so that if neither side could prevail on … accounting for the past, I think is something to celebrate,” Clinton told Ireland’s RTE TV in an interview last week.
Bill and Hillary Clinton, former U.S. Secretary of State, are scheduled to attend a conference at Queen’s University in Belfast later this month to mark the Good Friday anniversary.
As Biden marks the anniversary with his visit this week, there is renewed animosity over the agreement following recent developments from Brexit, which have complicated relations.
While Biden is also expected to meet with Ireland’s president and prime minister and address the Irish parliament, the White House has not described the trip as a policy visit, but rather a personal one.
Biden will spend several days traveling through Ireland with his son Hunter Biden and sister Valerie Biden Owens who joined him on Air Force One.
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Jeanice Block