U.S. President Joe Biden navigated sensitive issues of identity that divide Northern Ireland, and even dangled the carrot of major investment if its peace process endures and power-sharing government is restored.
But his long-awaited speech in Belfast on Wednesday is unlikely to provide the game-changing moment that ends the region’s political paralysis, which is now a serious headache for the British government and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. His trip, so far, has also captured the at-times awkward diplomatic relationship between the U.S. and U.K. under his administration. His affinity to Ireland, and skepticism about the U.K.’s approach to Northern Ireland, is central to that.
Northern Ireland has been without a government since February 2022, when the Democratic Unionist Party boycotted it in protest at post-Brexit trading rules it says align the region with the European Union and weaken its place in the U.K. Sunak has spent political capital on resolving the dispute, reaching a deal with the EU to ease the Brexit impact and trying to persuade unionists the economic benefits of having a foot in the bloc’s single market are worthy of compromise.
