US president Joe Biden has said his visit to Ireland last month was in part aimed at ensuring “the Brits did not screw around” regarding the Belfast Agreement.
Mr Biden made the remarks at a campaign reception in a private residence in New York City, during which he also spoke about addressing up to 40,000 people in the rain in Ballina, Co Mayo.
The president departed from his planned comments at the reception to speak about Ireland and his Irish heritage after telling his audience that his mother had taught him that everyone was equal.
“I got to go back... [this is] not what I had planned on talking about, but I got to go back to Ireland for the Irish accords, to make sure they weren’t... the Brits didn’t screw around and Northern Ireland didn’t walk away from their commitments,” he said.
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Recalling his address to a large audience in Ballina, he said he returned to his mother’s ancestral home and spoke in front of a cathedral which records showed his great-great-grandfather had provided the bricks to build.
“And I guess the point of it is this: We’ve all been through, and whether you’re Greek or Irish, you went through times when we weren’t respected very much, when we were treated [like] we were somehow fundamentally different than other people,” he told the New York reception. “And it wasn’t just Irish or African Americans. A whole lot – a lot of people went through it.”
Mr Biden spent four days in Ireland last month, firstly visiting Northern Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement and subsequently travelling to the Republic, visiting Dublin, Co Louth and Co Mayo.
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During the visit he faced criticism from some in the UK media and from some unionist politicians who claimed that he was anti-British.
As a presidential candidate, Mr Biden had argued that the Belfast Agreement must not become a casualty of Brexit. “Any trade deal between the US and UK must be contingent upon respect for the agreement and preventing the return of a hard border.”
Since his election, Mr Biden has strongly urged the EU and the UK government to reach an agreement to resolve the dispute over the Northern Ireland protocol. He has also on a number of occasions publicly backed the Windsor Framework, agreed between the UK and the EU in February to ease concerns about the protocol.
As he left Washington for Belfast last month, he said the top priorities for his visit were to “make sure the Irish accords and the Windsor agreement stay in place, to keep the peace”.
