Continuing his three-day visit to the Republic of Ireland, President Joe Biden on Thursday spoke to the Houses of the Oireachtas in Dublin, becoming the fourth American leader after John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton to address a joint sitting of the Irish parliament.
Biden reminisced about his Irish heritage and focused on the enduring strength of the bond with Ireland that began with the very founding of the United States.
“The Irish hearts that helped kindle the torch of liberty in my country and fire its revolutionary spirit,” he said. “The Irish blood from across this island that was willingly given for my country’s independence.”
Highlighting Ireland’s support in defending Ukraine from Russia’s aggression, he noted how the country stood proudly with the U.S. and partners around the world.
“Ireland pursues an independent course in foreign policy, but it is not neutral between liberty and tyranny and never will be,” Biden said, quoting Kennedy’s 1963 address to the Irish parliament.
The country, part of the European Union but not a member of NATO, is militarily neutral but lends humanitarian support to Ukraine, welcoming nearly 80,000 Ukrainian refugees following Russia’s invasion.
Biden received multiple rapturous applause from lawmakers.
“You have demonstrated unshakable faith, deep resilience and the ability to bring people of diverse and often conflicting views together,” Sean O Fearghail, speaker of the lower chamber, said in his welcoming remarks.
“You challenge us to believe that the further shore is reachable,” he said quoting Seamus Heaney, the late Irish poet whose work Biden often cites.
It’s no surprise that Biden’s speech was well-received.
“It’s commonly regarded in Dublin that President Biden is very proud of his Irish roots,” said Eoin Drea, a senior researcher at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies. “And that’s something that in effect makes a lot of Irish people very proud as well,” he told VOA.
Invited as a special guest to the event was Heaney’s wife, Mary Heaney, who seemed visibly moved when Biden noted in his speech that it was the poet’s birthday.
Good Friday Agreement
As he has done throughout the visit, which began Tuesday in Northern Ireland, Biden hailed the Good Friday Agreement, the 1998 peace deal that helped end 30 years of bloody conflict over whether Northern Ireland should unify with Ireland or remain part of the United Kingdom.
“Peace is precious. It still needs its champions, and it still needs to be nurtured,” he said, calling for the United Kingdom and Ireland to work more closely to preserve the agreement.
Earlier Thursday, as he rang the Peace Bell at the Irish president’s official residence, Biden again voiced hope for the restoration of the power-sharing government in Northern Ireland that has collapsed under boycott and political infighting. He promised that American corporations are ready to invest once the government returns.
Power sharing has been fraught with conflict, mainly between the two dominant political parties — the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which favors continued governance with London, and Sinn Fein, which broadly favors reunification with Ireland.
Since it was established in 1998, the government has collapsed numerous times because of boycotts by various parties, the latest one in February 2022 when DUP boycotted in protest of the Northern Ireland Protocol, a post-Brexit agreement between the U.K. and the European Union for Northern Ireland to maintain an open border and allow trade to continue with the Republic of Ireland, an EU member.
Support for Ukraine
Earlier on Thursday, Biden held talks with Leo Varadkar, also known as the Taoiseach, who was in Washington last month for the annual tradition of having the Irish prime minister attend St. Patrick’s Day at the White House.
He praised Varadkar on Ireland’s commitment in welcoming Ukrainian refugees.
“I know it’s not easy,” he told Varadkar. “I think our values are the same, and I think our concerns are the same.”
“Democracy and liberty and the things that we believe in are on retreat,” Varadkar said, thanking Biden for his “leadership when it comes to Ukraine.”
Ireland has been determined to ensure that there’s plenty of humanitarian aid for Ukraine, said Brendan O’Leary, the Lauder professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania.
“And Ireland has not taken a position that its neutrality requires it to avoid any military support for Ukraine,” he told VOA.
So far, that support has been minimal, including the participation of up to 30 of Ireland’s Defense Forces’ personnel to train Ukrainian troops under the European Union Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine.
Since its independence in 1922, Ireland has a policy of not becoming engaged in wars that are started by others, said Drea.
“Surprisingly enough, even the war in Ukraine hasn’t been enough to convince the Irish people that they should seriously look at their long-standing position of neutrality,” he said.
‘An honor to return’
“As the Irish saying goes, your feet will bring you where your heart is. It’s an honor to return,” Biden wrote in the visitors’ book at President Michael D. Higgins’ official residence.
Not far from an Irish oak planted by then-President Barack Obama during his visit in 2011, Biden also shoveled dirt around his own newly planted tree and cheered a youth Gaelic sports demonstration.
A day earlier Biden traveled to County Louth, home to his maternal great-great-grandfather, shoemaker Owen Finnegan, who emigrated to New York in 1849.
“Isn’t that amazing? My great-great-grandfather left from the same port five weeks later after Barack’s … great-great-grandfather,” he said to reporters Thursday, referring to Obama’s Irish maternal ancestor.
“And the idea that they both would seek a new life and think that their great-great-grandsons would end up being president of the United States is remarkable.”
Biden will close his trip with a Friday night speech in Ballina, home of his paternal ancestors, on the west coast of Ireland.
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