Biden Celebrates a Northern Ireland ‘Made Whole by Peace’ as Tensions Persist

Michael D. Shear and Katie Rogers

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BELFAST, Northern Ireland — President Biden on Wednesday tried to push Protestants and Catholics to resolve their differences and embrace the possibility of economic prosperity in a territory that had been “made whole by peace” since the Good Friday Agreement brought an end to decades of sectarian violence a quarter-century ago.

“Your history is our history, but more important, your future is America’s future,” Mr. Biden said during brief remarks at Ulster University, his only public appearance in Belfast before a departure to explore his Irish heritage in the Republic of Ireland.

He emphasized that Northern Ireland was poised to continue benefiting from economic transformation: “Peace and economic opportunity go together,” he said.

During his short stay in Belfast — a whirlwind stop ahead of several days of Biden family-related excursions — the president and his advisers generally tried to avoid thorny questions surrounding politics in Northern Ireland, where the legislature has been deadlocked after the Democratic Unionist Party pulled out over post-Brexit trade concerns.

He told reporters earlier in the day that he was “going to listen” during brief exchanges with leaders of the region’s five main political parties. Mr. Biden met with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain before the speech.

But in his remarks at Ulster, Mr. Biden encouraged the government to overcome its divisions and work toward a power-sharing agreement “that reflects the people of Northern Ireland and is accountable to them,” adding, “That’s a judgment for you to make, not me, but I hope it happens.”

The president’s visit comes amid a flare-up of political violence that has Belfast’s police on heightened alert, but ahead of the visit, John Kirby, a White House spokesman, played down concerns about Mr. Biden’s safety while in Belfast.

“We don’t ever talk about security requirements of protecting the president,” Mr. Kirby said. “But the president is more than comfortable making this trip, and he’s very excited to do it.”

Mr. Biden and Joe Kennedy III, the special envoy to Northern Ireland, right, on Tuesday were greeted at the airport by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain and Jane Hartley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom.Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York Times

Commenting on the attempted murder in February of a Northern Ireland police detective, Mr. Biden urged political rivals in the region not to let the enemies of peace win.

“Northern Ireland will not go back, pray God,” the president said. “The attack was a hard reminder that there will always be those who seek to destroy it, rather than rebuild. But the lesson of the Good Friday Agreement is this: In times when things seem fragile, or easily broken, that is when hope and hard work are needed the most.”

What to Know About ‘the Troubles’

A history of violence. “The Troubles” is a term used to describe a decades-long sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland, a region that was carved out as a Protestant-majority enclave under British sovereignty when the Republic of Ireland became self-governing in the 1920s. The conflict pitted those who wanted unity with Ireland — mostly Catholic, and known as nationalists and republicans — against those who wanted the territory to remain part of the United Kingdom — mostly Protestant, and known as unionists and loyalists.

How ‘the Troubles’ began. A civil rights march in the city of Derry on Oct. 5, 1968, is often referred to as a catalyst for the Troubles. The demonstration was banned after unionists announced plans for a rival march, but the organizers resolved to go ahead with it. When officers from the Protestant-dominated police force surrounded the demonstrators with batons drawn and sprayed the crowd with a water cannon, rioting erupted.

Simmering tensions. Centuries of disaffection quickly turned to armed revolt spearheaded by the underground Irish Republican Army and its political wing, Sinn Fein, which cast themselves as champions of the Roman Catholic minority. Loyalist paramilitary groups challenged the I.R.A., supposedly to protect a Protestant majority, injecting one more element of violence into the war.

Bloody Sunday. On Jan. 30, 1972, thousands of mostly Catholic marchers took to the streets of the Bogside district of Derry in opposition to a new policy of detention without trial. British soldiers opened fire, killing 14 protesters. The events became one of the most infamous episodes of the Troubles, known as Bloody Sunday.

A far-reaching conflict. The conflict had all the appearances of a civil war, with roadblocks, bomb blasts, sniper fire and the suspension of civil rights. Bombings also spread to the rest of Britain, and British troops hunted down I.R.A. members as far afield as Gibraltar. The I.R.A. drew significant support from groups as disparate as Irish Americans in the United States and the Libyan dictator Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

How the Troubles ended. The conflict came formally to an end in 1998 with a settlement known as the Good Friday Agreement. As part of the deal, a new form of regional government was created to share power between those who wanted the region to remain part of the United Kingdom and those who sought a united Ireland.

The conflict’s long shadow. Even after the Good Friday Agreement brought a form of peace, some violence has persisted. The shared executive authority set up in the 1998 accord has also seen repeated suspensions because of intractable disputes between the two sides and, most recently, the fallout from Brexit.

His remarks recognized the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, a peace treaty that ended decades of bloody sectarian violence between Northern Irish factions. It was negotiated with the help of the United States, ushering in political power sharing and, for the most part, a cessation of political violence.

While Mr. Biden met briefly with the leaders of Northern Ireland’s five largest political parties during his Wednesday visit, including Jeffrey Donaldson, the leader of the Democratic Unionists, some unionists were critical of his approach to the visit.

Sammy Wilson, a member of the party and a lawmaker in the British Parliament, told TalkTV, that Mr. Biden was “extremely partisan” and had a record of being “pro-Republican,” “anti-unionist” and “anti-British.”

“I hope that he doesn’t come here and lecture us about democracy and getting the Stormont assembly going,” Mr. Wilson said, referring to the deadlocked legislature, adding, “He wouldn’t accept any interference in the affairs of America by outside bodies or outside governments, and I don’t think he should expect us to respond to that either.”

Mr. Donaldson, who leads the largest unionist party, had a more measured approach. “We welcome his visit here today,” he said of Mr. Biden, in remarks to the BBC. “It is good to see the president coming and we hope to see investment into Northern Ireland flowing.”

He added that the visit “doesn’t change the political dynamic in Northern Ireland.”

For most of his time in Ireland this week, Mr. Biden will be engaged in a sentimental trip through the Irish countryside, where his ancestors lived before making their way across the Atlantic.

Mr. Biden at Ulster University. “Your history is our history, but more important, your future is America’s future,” he said in his remarks Wednesday.Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York Times

Mr. Biden is far from the first president to claim Irish ancestry, and he is certainly not alone among American politicians who embrace the Emerald Isle. But he may be the most exuberant, having once adapted a line from James Joyce by saying that when he dies, “Ireland will be written on my soul.”

But Mr. Biden’s enthusiasm for Ireland has drawn questions about whether he is sympathetic to the nationalists, who seek a united Ireland, over the unionists, who want to remain part of the United Kingdom.

On Wednesday, reporters asked several times whether Mr. Biden “hates” the United Kingdom, given his past support for republicans in Northern Ireland. (As a senator in 1985, he spoke out against making it easier to extradite Irish Republican Army militants to Britain from the United States.)

“It’s simply not true,” said Amanda Sloat, the National Security Council’s senior director for Europe. “President Biden obviously is a very proud Irish American. He is proud of those Irish roots, but he’s also a strong supporter of our bilateral partnership with the U.K.”

After departing Belfast on Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Biden will spend far less time on policy, though he will address the Irish Parliament and host discussions with the country’s president and prime minister. White House officials said those discussions would touch on the “wide range of interests” between the two countries, including economic cooperation and the effort to help Ukraine fight Russian aggression.

But even White House officials have made little effort to describe Mr. Biden’s trip as a policy one. It is personal for the president, they said, and most of his time will be spent in the countryside. Mr. Biden was accompanied on the trip to Ireland by Valerie Biden Owens, his sister, and Hunter Biden, his son. Both traveled from the United States with the president on Air Force One. Jill Biden, the first lady, stayed behind.

Mr. Biden met with Mr. Sunak on Wednesday in Belfast.Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York Times

During the visit, Mr. Biden planned to visit County Louth — home of the Finnegans and the Kearneys — and tour a shrine and a cathedral in County Mayo, where he will meet with the Blewitts, other distant relatives.

In Louth, Mr. Biden was joined on a tour of a castle by Rob Kearney, a retired professional rugby player who is his fifth cousin once removed. Both are related to John Finnegan and Mary Kearney, who were Mr. Biden’s great-great-great-grandparents.

In County Mayo on Friday, the president will tour the Family History Research Unit at the North Mayo Heritage and Genealogical Center, which has assembled a genealogical database with more than 1.2 million records to track the ancestry of people from the county.

For Mr. Biden, that history includes Edward Blewitt and Mary Mulderg (who was also known as Mary Reddington), his great-great-great-grandparents. The president is scheduled to visit St. Muredach’s Cathedral, which is constructed in part from thousands of bricks that, according to the White House, Mr. Blewitt sold in 1828. Mr. Blewitt used the proceeds from the sale to purchase tickets for himself and his family to sail to the United States on the S.S. Excelsior in 1851.

Mr. Biden’s visit is not his first personal trip to Ireland. In his final months as vice president, he spent six days traveling through the Irish countryside. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in law from Trinity College and delivered a speech at Dublin Castle.