Biden highlights “enduring” link between the United States and Ireland when visiting the European nation

Continuing his three-day visit to the Republic of Ireland, President Joe Biden addressed the Oireachtas Chambers in Dublin on Thursday, becoming the fourth American leader after John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton to address the a joint session of the Irish Parliament.

Biden recalled his Irish heritage and focused on the enduring strength of the bond with Ireland that began with the very founding of the United States.

“The Irish hearts that helped light the torch of freedom in my country and ignite its revolutionary spirit,” he reviewed. “The Irish blood of the whole island that was given voluntarily for the independence of my country.”

By highlighting Ireland’s support in defending Ukraine In the face of Russia’s aggression, he noted how the country is proud to stand with the US and its partners around the world.

“Ireland pursues an independent course in foreign policy, but it is not neutral between liberty and tyranny and never will be,” Biden said, citing Kennedy’s 1963 speech to the Irish parliament.

The country, which is part of the European Union but not a member of NATO, is militarily neutral but provides humanitarian support to Ukraine, hosting nearly 80,000 Ukrainian refugees following Russia’s invasion.

Biden received multiple enthusiastic applause from lawmakers.

“He has shown unwavering faith, deep resilience and the ability to unite people of diverse and often conflicting viewpoints,” House Speaker Sean O’Fearghail said in his welcoming remarks.

“They challenge us to believe that you can get to the other shore,” he said, quoting Seamus Heaney, the late Irish poet whose work Biden often quotes.

Not surprisingly, Biden’s speech was well received.

“In Dublin, President Biden is commonly considered to be very proud of his Irish roots,” explained Eoin Drea, a senior fellow at the Wilfried Martens Center for European Studies. “And that is something that, indeed, makes a lot of Irish people proud as well,” he told the audience. voice of america.

Special guest at the event was Heaney’s wife, Mary Heaney, who seemed visibly moved when Biden highlighted in his speech that it was the poet’s birthday.

Good Friday Agreement

As he has done throughout his tour, which began in Northern Ireland on Tuesday, Biden hailed the Good Friday Agreement, the 1998 peace deal that helped end 30 years of bloody conflict over whether Northern Ireland North should unite with Ireland or remain part of the United Kingdom.

“Peace is precious. It still needs champions and it still needs to be nurtured,” he said, calling on Britain and Ireland to work more closely to preserve the deal.

Earlier Thursday, when he rang the Peace Bell at the official residence of the Irish president, Biden again expressed his hope that the power-sharing government in Northern Ireland that collapsed under the boycott and political infighting will be restored. He promised that corporate America is ready to invest once the government returns.

Power sharing has been fraught with conflict, mainly between the two dominant political parties: the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which favors continued rule with London, and Sinn Fein, which generally favors reunification with Ireland.

Since it was established in 1998, the government has collapsed numerous times due to multi-party boycotts, most recently in February 2022 when the DUP blocked in protest the Northern Ireland Protocol, a post-Brexit deal between the United Kingdom and the European Union for Northern Ireland to maintain an open border and allow trade with the Republic of Ireland, an EU member, to continue.

Support for Ukraine

Earlier on Thursday, Biden held talks with Leo Varadkar, also known as Taoiseach, who was in Washington last month to fulfill the annual tradition of the Irish prime minister attending St. Patrick’s Day at the White House.

He praised Varadkar for Ireland’s commitment to welcoming Ukrainian refugees.

“I know it’s not easy,” he told Varadkar. “I think our values ​​are the same, and I think our concerns are the same.”

“Democracy and freedom and the things we believe in are in retreat,” Varadkar said, thanking Biden for his “leadership on Ukraine.”

Ireland is determined to ensure that there is plenty of humanitarian aid for Ukraine, said Brendan O’Leary, the Lauder professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania.

“Ireland has not taken the position that its neutrality requires it to avoid any military support for Ukraine,” he told the VOA.

So far, that support has been minimal, including involving up to 30 Irish Defense Forces personnel to train Ukrainian troops under the European Union Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine.

Since its independence in 1922, Ireland has had a policy of not getting involved in wars started by others, Drea said.

“Surprisingly, even the war in the Ukraine has not been enough to convince the Irish that they should seriously consider their longstanding position of neutrality,” he said.

‘An honor to return’

“As the Irish saying goes, your feet will take you where your heart is. It is an honor to return,” Biden wrote in the guest book at the official residence of President Michael Higgins.

Not far from an Irish oak tree planted by then-President Barack Obama during his 2011 visit, Biden also poured dirt around his own newly planted tree and cheered on a Gaelic youth sports demonstration.

A day earlier, Biden traveled to County Louth, home of his maternal great-great-grandfather, shoemaker Owen Finnegan, who immigrated to New York in 1849.

“Isn’t that amazing? My great-great-grandfather left the same port five weeks after Barack’s great-great-grandfather,” he told reporters Thursday, referring to Obama’s Irish maternal ancestor.

“And the idea that they would both look for a new life and think that their great-great-grandchildren would end up being president of the United States is remarkable.”

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

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