Air Force One touched down in Belfast last night for the start of US President Joe Biden’s four-day visit to the island of Ireland. The trip marks the 25-year anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, and is in many ways a homecoming for a man proud of his Irish heritage.
The visit is also about politics. Biden is spending only hours in Northern Ireland, before flying to the Republic. This is partly because of dysfunction in NI. It is a matter of great regret that Stormont, the power-sharing institution made possible by the Agreement, is not sitting — meaning there is no functioning government. Biden is therefore making no address to Assembly Members.
