President Joe Biden often mentions his Irish roots. But this week’s visit to the Emerald Isle, where he has arrived, is no vacation, he said Tuesday.  

In response to a reporter’s question, Biden stressed the importance of a 1998 agreement that brought peace to the island after decades of sectarian strife between mostly Catholic nationalists, who wished to unite with neighboring Ireland, and mostly Protestant Unionists, who wished to remain within the United Kingdom. 

Biden’s top priority on this three-day visit — which will take him across the island, hitting the Northern Irish capital, Dublin, and his family’s ancestral home of Ballina — is to “make sure the Irish accords and the Windsor agreements stay in place,” he said. “Keep the peace, that’s the main thing.”  

That is a big lift. That peace has been tested by the U.K.’s 2016 Brexit vote to leave the European Union, taking Northern Ireland with it, and leaving the rest of the island in the EU.   

White House officials say Biden brings decades of knowledge to the task.  

“President Biden cares deeply about Northern Ireland and has a long history of supporting peace and prosperity there,” said John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council. “As a U.S. senator, Joe Biden was an advocate for how the United States can play a constructive role supporting peace.”

‘Hope for a new generation’

Analysts say there is bipartisan will in the U.S. to see the island succeed. They point to two ways the world’s wealthiest nation can encourage stability: with attention and with money.     

“There can be investments in the region. There can be special envoys that remain invested. And then, I think there also needs to be effort put into trust building,” Donatienne Ruy, who researches Brexit and European issues at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told VOA via Zoom. “After the Good Friday Agreement, we all kind of assumed the peace was done. Really, that was the moment to kick up the efforts in high gear.”   

The situation has degenerated since the Brexit vote, and the Windsor Framework that Biden described has not won support from Northern Ireland’s pro-U.K. political party. They have boycotted the government for more than a year, threatening the delicate power-sharing agreement formed after the 1998 peace accord.   

The leader of the independent Republic of Ireland explained what’s at stake.   

“We want to see the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement restored so they can provide hope for a new generation,” said Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, when he visited the White House in March to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with Biden. “And we’d like to see the people of Northern Ireland benefit from the rich economic opportunities available to them.”  

But peace is a process, Ruy says. So far, there has been encouraging progress.   

“The reason I’m still positive is we see the emergence and the increasing success of non-sectarian parties in the political sphere,” she said. “So, yes, we could be in a better place, but we really have made huge strides since 1998.”  

‘Son of Balllina’

For Biden, this visit holds personal history. Like most American families, the Bidens came from another continent. The village of Ballina was the start of their very American story.      

“The Irish left here during oppression and famine, went to Scranton and worked in the coal mines and on the railways, really difficult jobs, but with pride and enthusiasm for a better life. And they were able to provide that for their people,” Mark Duffy, Ballina Council Leader, said to Agence France-Presse. “And that has come full circle now with a son of Ballina, an ancestor of Ballina, becoming U.S. president and sitting in the Oval Office.”    

On Friday, that son of Ballina will speak before residents of this small town. But his words will be heard around the world.   
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