{"id":158715,"date":"2023-04-12T17:33:37","date_gmt":"2023-04-13T00:33:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=158715"},"modified":"2023-04-12T17:33:37","modified_gmt":"2023-04-13T00:33:37","slug":"president-biden-marking-the-25th-anniversary-of-the-belfast-good-friday-agreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=158715","title":{"rendered":"President Biden Marking the 25th Anniversary of the Belfast\/Good Friday Agreement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Belfast, Northern Ireland&#8230;Well, good afternoon, everyone.  What a great \u2014 please have a seat.  It\u2019s a great honor to be here. I just told Gabrielle that \u2014 that when she\u2019s the leading public figure in this country and I show up, to promise you won\u2019t say, \u201cJoe who is outside?\u201d  (Laughter.)  You\u2019ll say, \u201cJoe Biden.\u201d  Remember \u2014 just remember me, okay?  Huh?  All right.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/C5BfezwfktI\" title=\"President Biden Delivers Remarks Marking the 25th Anniversary of the Belfast\/Good Friday Agreement\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Chancellor Davidson, Vice-Chancellor Bartholomew, thank you for hosting us today on this beautiful campus of Ulster University.<\/p>\n<p>I came here in \u201991, in this neighborhood, and you couldn\u2019t have a glass building like this here in this neighborhood, I don\u2019t think.  I don\u2019t think it would have stood up very well.  But things are changing<\/p>\n<p>Lord Mayor Black and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Heaton-Harris, thank you for the welcome to Belfast.<\/p>\n<p>And, Mr. Speaker and leaders of Northern Ireland\u2019s leading five political parties, I was honored to welcome you to the White House a few weeks ago, and \u2014 and it\u2019s wonderful to see all of you again today.<\/p>\n<p>And, Ambassador Hartley, thank you for your outstanding work leading our Mission to the UK Ambassador Hartley is \u2014 is an old friend. <\/p>\n<p>And the former ambassador from Great Britain to the United States \u2014 the home of that ambassador and the embassy is along the fence line of the Vice President\u2019s Residence, which I lived in for eight years.  And the Vice President and I became \u2014 I became friends with the ambassador.  And his last trip back home, before he came back to Washington to serve out the final few months of his term, he \u2014 he told me he was going to bring something back for me. <\/p>\n<p>And so, I didn\u2019t know what he had in mind, but when he came back, we had him over to the house.  We spent some time together \u2014 he and his wife and I and my wife.  And he brought back a book with a \u2014 a \u2014 a photograph on the front of the book.  A \u2014 a \u2014 it had been just reprinted, the book \u2014 of a somewhat stout British captain in his quarters with a big bulldog sitting next to him.  And his name was Captain George Biden.  Because he used to always kid me and say, \u201cYou know, Biden is English.  You talk about the Irish.  Biden is English.\u201d  (Laughter.) <\/p>\n<p>And he told me that he went back, and he had the Lord Admiralty \u2014 this is the God\u2019s truth story \u2014 check.  And my great-great- \u2014 1840s \u2014 I think it was 1842, could have been 1828; I can\u2019t remember \u2014 it\u2019s one of those two dates \u2014 had written the rules \u2014 the rules of mutiny for the British Navy.  (Laughter.)  And I said, \u201cWell, at least that part is consistent, Reverend.\u201d  (Laughter.)  The mutiny.<\/p>\n<p>But anyway, he used to always kid me when I\u2019d say \u2014 you know, I\u2019d talk about \u2014 he\u2019d say, \u201cYeah, you talk about the Irish.\u201d  He said, \u201cYou\u2019re English.  Just remember that.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Then I found out \u2014 my sister and I found out the name Robinette \u2014 Robinette, my middle name is Robinette.  I thought that, all of those years, it was French.  It must have been Huguenots because they came to Great Britain in the 1700s somewhere along the way, and they\u2019re all from Nottingham.  So I don\u2019t know what hell is going on here.  (Laughter.)  You come back, it\u2019s confusing. <\/p>\n<p>And anyway \u2014 Consul General Naran \u2014 Narain and the envoy \u2014 Special Envoy Joe Kennedy, thank you for your efforts to continue deepening and strengthening the ties between Northern Ireland and the United States.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s good to see Belfast, a city that\u2019s alive with commerce, art \u2014 and, I\u2019d argue, inspiration.  The dividends of peace are all around us.<\/p>\n<p>And this very campus is situated in an intersection where conflict and bloodshed once held terrible sway.  The idea, as I said, to have a glass building here when I was here in \u201991 was highly unlikely.<\/p>\n<p>Where barbed wire once sliced up the city, today we find cathedral \u2014 a cathedral of learning built of glass and let the shine \u2014 light out \u2014 in and out.  It just has a profound impact for someone who has come back to see it.  You know, it\u2019s an incredible testament to the power and the possibilities of peace.<\/p>\n<p>Twenty-five years ago this week, the landmark Belfast\/Good Friday Agreement was signed.  And it wasn\u2019t easy.  I was a United States senator at the time.  And I worked very closely with my good friend George Mitchell, who will be here, I believe, within a couple days. <\/p>\n<p>And there were no guarantees that the deal on paper would hold.  No guarantees that it would be able to deliver the progress we celebrate today.<\/p>\n<p>And it took long, hard years of work to get to this place.  It took a people willing to come together in good faith<\/p>\n<p>and to risk boldly for the future.  Leaders and \u2014 for peace like John Hume and David Trimble and David Ervine and Monica McWilliams and Mary Robinson, et cetera.  They were all people that I got to meet back then. <\/p>\n<p>And it took people across \u2014 all across Northern Ireland who made the choice to work for a brighter and a shared future. <\/p>\n<p>At the time, it seemed so distant, some of it.  It seemed so distant.<\/p>\n<p>First at the ballot box and every day since, the acts of seeing each other through the lens of a common humanity \u2014 which, again, when I first came here as a young senator, didn\u2019t seem like it was realistic. <\/p>\n<p>It took pioneering women across all communities and parties that said \u201cenough\u201d \u2014 \u201cenough\u201d \u2014 and demanded change as well as a seat at the negotiating table, including through the Northern Ireland Women\u2019s Coalition.<\/p>\n<p>And it took a determined effort of my good friend who \u2014 someone who embodies my country\u2019s commitment to all the people \u2014 all the people in this region, Senator George Mitchell.<\/p>\n<p>And, you know, his time serving as Special Envoy for Northern Ireland is one of the great examples in history of the right person for the right job at the right time, in my view. <\/p>\n<p>I think sometimes, especially when the distance of history, we forget just how hard-earned, how astoundingthat peace was at the moment.  It shifted the political gravity in our world.  It literally \u2014 it shifted the political gravity.<\/p>\n<p>In 1998, it was the longest-running conflict in Europe since the end of World War Two.  Thousands of families had been affected by the Troubles.  The losses were real.  The pain was personal.  I need not tell many people in this audience. <\/p>\n<p>Every person killed in the Troubles left an empty chair at that dining-room table and a hole in the heart that was never filled for the ones they lost.<\/p>\n<p>Peace was not inevitable.  We can\u2019t ever forget that.  There was nothing inevitable about it. <\/p>\n<p>As George Mitchell often said, the negotiations had, quote, \u201cSeven hundred days of failure and one day of success.\u201d  Seven hundred days of failure and one day of success. <\/p>\n<p>But they kept going because George and all the many others never stopped believing that success was possible. <\/p>\n<p>And I want all of you to know, especially the young people in the audience today \u2014<\/p>\n<p>(Addressing the students.)  And don\u2019t jump, okay?  (Laughter.)  Oh, I didn\u2019t see you all the way up there.  (Laughter.)  As my father would say, \u201cPlease, excuse my back.  I apologize.\u201d  (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>But all kidding aside, the American people were with you \u2014 are with you every step of the way.  It\u2019s real.<\/p>\n<p>Those of you who\u2019ve been to America know that there is a \u2014 there is a large population that is invested in what happens here, that cares a great deal about what happens here.<\/p>\n<p>Supporting the people of Northern Ireland, protecting the peace, preserving the Belfast\/Good Friday Agreement is a priority for Democrats and Republicans alike in the United States, and that is unusual today because we\u2019ve been very divided in our parties.  This is something that brings Washington together.  It brings America together.<\/p>\n<p>I spoke about this with Northern Ireland\u2019s political leaders, as well as the Taoiseach, at our St. Patrick\u2019s Day celebration at the White House.<\/p>\n<p>This has been a key focus for me throughout my career.<\/p>\n<p>I remember working as a senator to see how the United States could support and encourage bit by bit any moves toward peace.<\/p>\n<p>I got elected in 1972 as a 29-year-old kid to the United States Senate, and it was just the start of it.  I mean, it seemed like it was a d- \u2014 a goal that was so far away.<\/p>\n<p>I remember coming here, as I said, in \u201891, seeing this city divided and barricaded.<\/p>\n<p>Then, in \u201894, when the cease-fire was declared, it was like a sea change.  The tide of violence began to recede.  Hope rolling in.<\/p>\n<p>In 1998, overwhelming joy.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s hard to communicate just how deeply invested your success \u2014 in your success the people across the United States are.  And those of you who\u2019ve been there know it.  You know it.  I\u2019m not making this up.  This is real.  This is \u2014 it\u2019s almost \u2014 people can taste it.<\/p>\n<p>The family ties and the pride in those Ulster Scots immigrants \u2014 those \u2014 those Ulster Scots immigrants who helped found and build my country, they run very deep \u2014 very deep.<\/p>\n<p>Men born in Ulster were among those who signed the Declaration of Independence in the United States, pledging their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor for freedom\u2019s cause.<\/p>\n<p>The man who printed the revolutionary document was John Dunlap.  He hailed from County Tyrone.<\/p>\n<p>And countless \u2014 countless others established new lives of opportunity across the Atlantic \u2014 planting farms, founding communities, starting businesses \u2014 never forgetting their connection to this island.<\/p>\n<p>As a matter of fact, as you walk into my office in the \u2014 in the Oval Office in the United States\u2019 capital \u2014 guess what?  You know who founded and designed and built the White House?  An Irishman.  (Laughter.)  No, not a joke.  Not a joke.<\/p>\n<p>Passing it down, generation after generation. <\/p>\n<p>Your history is our history.  But even more important, your future is America\u2019s future.<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s Belfast is the beating heart of Northern Ireland,<\/p>\n<p>and it\u2019s poised to drive unprecedented economic opportunity and investment from communities across the UK, across Ireland, and across the United States.<\/p>\n<p>The simple truth is that peace and economic opportunity go together.  Peace and economic opportunity go together.<\/p>\n<p>In the 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland\u2019s gross domestic product has literally doubled.  Doubled.  And I predict to you, if things continue to move in the right direction, it will more than triple.<\/p>\n<p>There are scores of major American corporations wanting to come here, wanting to invest.  Many have already made homes in Northern Ireland, employing over 30,000 people.<\/p>\n<p>And in just the past decade, American business has generated almost $2 billion in investment in the region.  Two billion dollars.<\/p>\n<p>Today, Northern Ireland is a churn of creativity, art, poetry, theater.<\/p>\n<p>Some of our favorite television shows and movies are filmed here \u2014 (laughs) \u2014 as you know.<\/p>\n<p>And I understand the star of the recent Oscar-winning film and someone \u2014 a Belfast barista, James Martin, is here today.  James, where are you?  (Applause.) <\/p>\n<p>I got to meet James, and I got my picture taken.  I\u2019m going to go home and brag to my daughter.  (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>Cruise ships packed with tourists fill Belfast Port.<\/p>\n<p>And young people, instead of fleeing for opportunities elsewhere, can see their futures and careers for themselves that speak to unlimited possibilities here.<\/p>\n<p>How many of you have heard over the years, those of you ol- \u2014 closer to my age, \u201cMom, Dad, there\u2019s nothing here for me.  I\u2019m going to move.  I\u2019m going to leave.  I got to go.\u201d  Well, it\u2019s not happening now.<\/p>\n<p>So, it\u2019s up to us to keep this going \u2014 to keep building on the work that has been done every day for the last 25 years; to sustain the peace, unleash this incredible economic opportunity, which is just beginning.  I promise you.  You think I\u2019m joking.  It\u2019s just beginning.  We get this \u2014 keep it going.<\/p>\n<p>We all know there is more we can do together.<\/p>\n<p>You know, there is so much energy and dynamism, especially among young people, who are starting their own businesses, blazing their own trails, connecting to the global community of entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n<p>And young people in Northern Ireland are on the cutting edge of sectors that are going to define so much of the future: cyber, technology, clean energy, life sciences.<\/p>\n<p>Here in Northern Ireland, programs like Young Entrepreneur \u2014 Young Enterprise Northern Ireland, helping thousands of young people each year gain skills and pursue the goals \u2014 their goals as entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why I asked Joe Kennedy, my new Special Envoy in Northern Ireland of Economic Affairs, to help supercharge that work to bring more businesses, more investment, more opportunity here to Northern Ireland, and to help realize the enormous economic potential of this region.<\/p>\n<p>Because I\u2019d note parenthetically: When that happens here, it gives fai- \u2014 faith to people around the world.  If it can be done here, it can be done in my community.  Not a joke. <\/p>\n<p>The world is changing.  It\u2019s changing drastically, and it presents enormous opportunity but also significant dangers.<\/p>\n<p>To that end, later this year, Joe is going to be leading a trade delegation of American companies to Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>Now, I know the UK\u2019s departure from the European Union created complex challenges here in Northern Ireland.  And I encouraged the leaders of the UK and EU to address the issues in a way that served Northern Ireland\u2019s best interests.<\/p>\n<p>I deeply appreciate the personal leadership of Prime Minister Sunak and European Commissioner von der Leyen to reach an agreement.<\/p>\n<p>The Windsor Framework addresses the practical realities of Brexit and the essential \u2014 and it\u2019s an essential step to ensuring hard-earned peace and progress of the Good Friday Agreement is \u2014 that they\u2019re preserved and strengthened.<\/p>\n<p>You know, the negotiators listened to business leaders across the UK and Ireland who shared what they needed to succeed.<\/p>\n<p>And I believe the stability and predictability offered by this framework will encourage greater investment in Northern Ireland, significant investment in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>I come from a little state where \u2014 the state of Delaware, back home, that has more corporations that are registered in that state than every other state in the Union combined.  So I know a little bit about corporate attitudes.<\/p>\n<p>All the immense progress we see around us was built through conver- \u2014 conversation and compromise, discussion and debate, voting and inclusion.  It\u2019s an incredible attestation to the power of democracy to deliver the needs for all the people.<\/p>\n<p>And now I know better than most how hard democracy can be at times.  We in the United States have firsthand experience how fragile even longstanding democratic institutions can be.  You saw what happened on January the 6th in my country.<\/p>\n<p>We learn anew with every generation that democracy needs champions.  When I went to college, I was a political science major and history major.  We were taught every generation has to fight to preserve democracies.  I didn\u2019t believe it at the time.  I just thought it was automatic.  We had this great democracy.  What would we need to do?<\/p>\n<p>As a friend, I hope it\u2019s not too presumptuous for me to say that I believe democratic institutions established through the Good Friday Agreement remain critical for the future of Northern Ireland.  It\u2019s a decision for you to make, not for me to make.  But it seems to me they\u2019re related.<\/p>\n<p>An effective, devolved government that reflects the people of Northern Ireland and is accountable to them.  A government that works to find ways through hard problems together is going to draw even greater opportunity in this region.<\/p>\n<p>So I hope that the Assembly and the Executive will soon be restored \u2014 that\u2019s a judgment for you to make, not me, but I hope it happens \u2014 along with the institutions that facilitate North-South and East-West relations, all of which are vital pieces of the Good Friday Agreement.<\/p>\n<p>For in politics, no matter what divides us, if we look hard enough, there are always areas that are going to bring us together if we look hard enough.  Standing for peace, rejecting political violence must be one of those things.<\/p>\n<p>So I want \u2014 so I want to once more recognize the way the leaders of Northern Ireland\u2019s major political parties come together in the wake of the attempted murder of Detective Chief Inspector Caldwell to show that the enemies of peace will not prevail. <\/p>\n<p>Northern Ireland will not go back, pray to God.<\/p>\n<p>The attack was a hard reminder that there will always be those who seek to destroy rather than rebuild.  But the lesson of the Good Friday Agreement is this: In times when things seem fragile or easily broken, that is when hope and hard work are needed the most.  That\u2019s when we must make our theme \u201crepair.\u201d  Repair. <\/p>\n<p>And in the holy Easter season \u2014 this season \u2014 when all Christians celebrate renewal and life, the Good Friday Agreement showed us that there is hope for repair even in the most awful breakages.<\/p>\n<p>You know, it helped people all around the world to hope for renewal and progress in their own lives.  And most of all, it allowed an entire generation of young people in Northern Ireland and across the UK and in the Republic of Ireland to grow up in a society mended by connection, made stronger by independence \u2014 interdependence and respect. <\/p>\n<p>Young people like Gabrielle, who we just heard from earlier.  Her success and her opportunities have been underwritten by the Good Friday Agreement<\/p>\n<p>Young people like Jordan Graham, born less than three weeks<\/p>\n<p>after the agreement was signed in 1998.  His whole life \u2014 his whole life has unfolded under the wing of peace, which means,<\/p>\n<p>not quite 25 years of age, he\u2019s been able to build an expertise in branding and marketing that he\u2019s used to help grow local businesses, support startups, and consult for charities.<\/p>\n<p>Young people like Aimee Clint, born in 2000, whose parents like to tell the story about how she came home from her first day of secondary school and asked, \u201cWhat\u2019s the difference<\/p>\n<p>between a Protestant and a Catholic?\u201d  \u201cWhat\u2019s the difference between a Protestant and a Catholic?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She didn\u2019t grow up thinking in sectarian divides.  She grew up thinking about how she could support her beloved brother and other children who have autism.<\/p>\n<p>Today, Aimee\u2019s social enterprise has donated more than 5,000 copies of her book to schools across Northern Ireland to help children better understand autism and to learn to treat others with kindness and respect.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the real power of the Good Friday Agreement: compassion.  Compassion.  It changed how this entire region sees itself.<\/p>\n<p>In the words of Morrisey, Belfast\u2019s first poet laureate: \u201cWhat\u2019s left is dark and quiet\u2026But book-ended by light, as when Dorothy opens the dull cabin door and\u2026\u201d happens out \u2014 \u201c\u2026what happens outside is technicolor.\u201d  \u201c[W]hat happens outside is technicolor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This is place is transformed by peace, made technicolor by peace, made whole by peace.<\/p>\n<p>So today, I come to Belfast to pledge to all the people of Northern Ireland: The United States of America will continue<\/p>\n<p>to be your partner in building the future the young people of our world deserve.<\/p>\n<p>It matters to us, to Americans, and to me personally.  It genuinely matters if you travel in my country.<\/p>\n<p>So, let\u2019s celebrate 25 extraordinary years by recommitting<\/p>\n<p>to renewal, repair; by making this exceptional peace the birthright of every child in Northern Ireland for all the days to come.  That\u2019s what we should be doing.  God willing, you\u2019ll be able to do it.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you all for listening.  And may God bring you the peace we need.  Thank you.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>1:16 P.M. BST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Belfast, Northern Ireland&#8230;Well, good afternoon, everyone. What a great \u2014 please have a seat. It\u2019s a great honor to be here. I just told Gabrielle that \u2014 that when she\u2019s the leading public figure in this country and I show up, to promise you won\u2019t say, \u201cJoe who is outside?\u201d (Laughter.) You\u2019ll say, \u201cJoe Biden.\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":158716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-158715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-4122023-53248-PM.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=158715"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":158717,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158715\/revisions\/158717"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/158716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=158715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=158715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=158715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}