US President Joe Biden celebrates peace in Ireland and the special relationship between the two countries

US President Joe Biden wrapped up his third day of the longest trip of his term on Thursday. In Ireland he is welcomed as a prodigal son. Although it was his great-grandfather who left for the United States, fleeing the British colonialist famine.

It’s not just for peace in Ireland and the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Peace Agreement that Biden chose Green Island as his official trip, but because one in ten Americans has Irish blood. Ireland is the first step in the electoral campaign of the apparent next Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

After a first day in Belfast to persuade politicians to rejoin the Assembly that the Good Friday Agreement established to achieve peace, he landed in Dublin with all his family (including his children) to reunite with his ancestors and their relatives. An unforgettable day for the Biden family in County Louth.

A very political Thursday for the most Irish of American presidents. He became America’s first leader since 1995 speak before the full Irish Parliament.

“It’s good to be back in Ireland. I’m at home,” he told MPs.

“US and Ireland have had a partner for years”He continued. “A partnership that begins in our shared history that began with the founding of the United States,” he said.

“Irish hearts who have carefully helped raise the torch of freedom and ignited the revolutionary spirit,” the president said.

Ukraine

For the first time in four days, Biden spoke about the war in Ukraine and the responsibilities citizens of Ireland and the United States have in the world.

“Ireland and America together oppose the brutal Russian aggression and support the brave Ukrainian people,” he assured, reminding MPs that Ukraine has welcomed 80,000 Ukrainian refugees on its small island.

“Putin thought the world would look the other way. He was confident that NATO would break into the European Union, the unity of Western nations would crack and fall at the time of the test. But he was wrong,” he analyzed Biden.

Then the President of the United States turned his attention to the Good Friday Agreement and said, “Peace is precious.” “She needs her champions and she needs to be fed“, She said.

“The Good Friday Agreement has not only changed lives for the better in Northern Ireland, it has also had a significant impact across the Republic of Ireland,” he said.

Biden has promised to work with Ireland to that end because “peace must guide us.”

Yesterday he had a gaffe with his rugby-playing cousin, about whom he said he beat not the All Blacks but the Black and Tans, a brutal British police regiment during the civil war. She reparated by saying that in his office she had a ball from the Washington club. But the Ulster DUP he thinks it’s another anti-British expression from the head of state.

Missing

in parliament they were the protagonists of the peace agreement in Irelandsuch as former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, former Irish President Mary McAleese and Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, along with current Leo Varadkar and his predecessor Enda Kenny.

But there was one conspicuously absent guest: the leader of the Union Democrats, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, head of the DUP. He refuses to be part of the Belfast Assembly because he does not agree with the new Brexit deal signed by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Busy and delayed day for the American president. The Irish are more informal and flexible than the British. He met Prime Minister Leo Varadkar to discuss the peace deal and the war in Ukraine. The Irish prime minister ruled out that President Biden was “anti-British”, while Protestant trade unionists circulate.

Met with the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, rang the peace bells and planted a tree

On his final day, President Biden will visit County Mayo on Friday, home to Ireland’s largest Catholic church in Knock, where he will arrive as a pilgrim to pray, alone, with his family.