Joe Biden urges Northern Ireland to sustain peace, seize economic gains

President Joe Biden holds a cellphone as he takes a picture with a members of the audience after making a speech about Northern Ireland’s vast economic potential at the Ulster University’s new campus in Belfast, Wednesday. Pic/AP

US President Joe Biden said Wednesday that Northern Ireland must "not go back" to the violence that scarred it for years before a U.S.-brokered peace deal 25 years ago, nudging politicians to resolve a political crisis that has left this part of the United Kingdom without a functioning government.

U.S. involvement was key to negotiating the Good Friday accord, which largely ended decades of sectarian violence that killed 3,600 people.

Speaking of the economic growth Northern Ireland has experienced since the Good Friday Agreement ended 30 years of sectarian bloodshed, Biden said: "It's up to us to keep this going."

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On his first presidential visit to Northern Ireland, Biden dangled the prospect of more American investment to help fuel economic growth - especially if Belfast's fractious politicians resolve a stalemate that has put their government on pause.

"The simple truth is that peace and economic opportunity go together," Biden said during a speech at Ulster University's new campus in Belfast. He noted that the glass-clad downtown building would have been unthinkable during the years of bombings and shootings known as "The Troubles."

Noting that Northern Ireland's total economic output had doubled in the quarter-century since the Good Friday peace deal was signed in April 1998, Biden urged people in Northern Ireland to "sustain the peace, unleash this incredible economic opportunity."

Biden urged all political parties to get back to work, saying "democracy needs champions" and that Northern Ireland's future is in their hands.

"I hope the assembly and the executive will soon be restored," he said. "That's a judgment for you to make, not me, but I hope it happens."

Biden's visit was timed to mark the anniversary of the Good Friday accord, which the U.S. was key to striking. Biden credited people who were willing to "risk boldly for the future" by reaching the agreement, reminding the audience that "peace was not inevitable."

While peace has endured, Northern Ireland has been without a functioning government since the Democratic Unionist Party, which formed half of a power-sharing government, walked out a year ago over a post-Brexit trade dispute.

3,600
No. of people killed in sectarian violence in N Ireland

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