An Irish homecoming: Biden's success on homeland pilgrimage

President helps nudge Ulster political impasse while impressing the US's 34 million Irish heritage voters with his warm welcome

US President Joe Biden arriving at Ireland West Airport Knock. His four-day visit could be viewed as a success, on personal and political levels. AP

The clear winner in Joe Biden’s trip to all corners of Ireland has been the US President himself.

It was both a pleasurable indulgence in his Irish heritage as well as a tonic for his expected presidential campaign next year.

He even navigated the potential landmines of Northern Ireland’s political landscape without incident.

Indeed, his brief footfall in the north, where he started the four-day trip on Tuesday, may have given a gentle nudge to its fractious politicians to edge back towards power-sharing government.

A large carrot was provided by Mr Biden in the form of his promise of heavy investment in Northern Ireland by major US companies if Ulster can resolve its differences over post-Brexit arrangements.

Relaxed, jovial and demonstrably content once south of the border, for a moment the US President appeared no more than an 80-year-old returning to his family roots.

That will be a happy legacy for Mr Biden as he contemplates the bruising election campaign ahead — possibly against an incandescent Donald Trump. For a moment he was able to put aside the stresses of presidency and become an “ordinary Joe”.

Northern navigation

The first 18 hours of his pilgrimage were expected to be the most trying, in which misplaced humour could have detonated a political bomb that would have overshadowed the trip.

It was a tricky moment. The President had vowed not to visit Ulster until power-sharing was restored, yet with the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, which ended the violence of The Troubles, it would have been churlish to have swerved the province.

Stormont, the Northern Irish legislature, has been in abeyance since the pro-British Democratic Unionist party pulled out over concerns that the post-Brexit agreement was severely harming trade and made Ulster too aligned with the Irish Republic.

Mr Biden understood that a nudge, rather than heft, was required.

The simple act of having the five Northern Irish politicians meeting in the same room together with the US President proved a unifying act.

Jeffery Donaldson, the DUP leader, remained open to dialogue, complimenting the President’s “measured and balanced remarks” at Ulster University on Wednesday.

He also rejected claims that Mr Biden “hates” the UK.

“The United Kingdom and the United States have a strong alliance and we want to build on that,” Mr Donaldson said.

The unifying theme was cemented by his political opponent from Sinn Fein, the pro-republican party. “The parties do work well together when they get the opportunity,” remarked Sinn Fein’s Conor Murphy, Stormont’s former finance minister.

Mr Biden’s deft manoeuvring may well help edge the province back to power-sharing later this year, once the DUP has won some compromises on the new Brexit deal.

Biden blunders

Happily, the one gaffe of the trip came shortly after the presidential cavalcade crossed into the Irish Republic.

On referring to Ireland rugby team's victory over the New Zealand “All Blacks” (named after the colour of their kit), Mr Biden erroneously called them the “Black and Tans”.

These were the military auxiliaries sent by London in 1920 to savagely quash Irish unrest over independence. They were a ruthless and violent unit who killed and maimed many civilians, yet Mr Biden’s confusion was taken in good humour.

After a good run of successes this year, including the post-Brexit Windsor Framework that could see a return to power-sharing, Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was ready to bask in some of the presidential geniality.

However, his meeting with Mr Biden was a mere 30 minutes over coffee, more a “bi-latte” than a bilateral, as some Washington media termed it.

The humiliation continued when in a speech to the Irish parliament Mr Biden gave a tacit rebuke, suggesting the UK “should be working closer” with the Irish government to support a return to power-sharing.

Southern delight

Despite it being his third trip to Ireland in more than a decade, Mr Biden was still overwhelmed by the warmth of the Irish welcome.

His pilgrimage took him from Dublin to family roots in County Louth and County Mayo. Throughout, his welcome was genuine, increased by Mr Biden’s strong Roman Catholic faith that saw him visit the important shrine in Knock.

“President Biden, today you are amongst friends because you are one of us. On this historic occasion — your homecoming — we warmly welcome you back to your roots,” Sean O Fearghail, the Irish parliament speaker said on Thursday.

“Tá mé seo abhaile,” Biden responded in Irish before his speech to members. “I’m at home,” adding: “I just wish I could stay longer.”

He seemed to genuinely mean it. The President is 80 and a potential second term would see him retire at 85, with no guarantee that he might return to Ireland.

But to secure more time in the White House Mr Biden knows that he will have a bare-knuckle fight to secure every vote he can against a fierce Republican Party opponent.

There are 34 million Americans who claim Irish heritage and their current President’s genuine delight and welcome in Ireland will not go unseen. “He’s one of us”, will probably be the memory etched in many minds come the 2024 election.

Irish Nato

Ireland certainly provides American presidential visits — eight since Kennedy in 1963 — with an electoral boon. But the US has never demanded that Ireland should give something in return, especially when it comes to defence.

President Biden did not reverse that goodwill by raising an issue that becomes ever more pertinent since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Western Europe and Nato have significantly stepped up their defences by not only supplying arms to Kyiv but increasing their military budgets in line with or above the 2 per cent of gross domestic product the alliance requests.

Ireland has devoted just 30 soldiers to train Ukrainians in de-mining and contributes 0.3 per cent of its GDP to defence. Its navy is so small it has had to mothball two of its six patrol vessels. It has the same population size as Denmark — five million — but only a third of its troops, with just 8,000 under arms.

“With so many American voters claiming Irish heritage, Ireland gets a free pass,” said Col Richard Kemp, a former British soldier. “Its unwillingness to increase defence spending smacks of timorousness akin to the republic’s approach to Nato. Ireland has never been a member, yet it is happy to in practice shelter behind Nato’s shield.”

The fallout from Ukraine may well bring the question of Nato to the agenda for the next US presidential visit, regardless of who the president is.