President Biden will travel next week to Northern Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of a landmark peace accord there before heading to Ireland, his ancestral homeland, as part of a four-day trip, the White House formally announced Wednesday.
Biden plans to head to Belfast on Tuesday to “mark the tremendous progress” since the signing of the U.S.-brokered Good Friday Agreement, which largely ended 30 years of sectarian violence between pro-Ireland Catholics and pro-Britain Protestants, the White House said.
His trip will come a week before a host of top leaders — including King Charles III, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton — plan to be in Belfast for the official anniversary celebrations of a deal brokered during Clinton’s presidency.
During Biden’s visit, he will also “underscore the readiness of the United States to support Northern Ireland’s vast economic potential,” the White House said. Northern Ireland, with a population of nearly 2 million, is one of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom.
Biden is scheduled to arrive in Ireland next Wednesday. That leg of his trip will include an address in County Mayo, on the country’s west coast, “to celebrate the deep, historic ties that link” Americans and the Irish.
Beyond diplomatic engagements, Biden is also expected to take some time to bask in his ancestral homeland. Biden, whose family emigrated from Ireland, holds deep affection for the country. He regularly quotes Irish poetry, concedes he has an Irish temper and is quick to unspool his Irish lineage as a proud descendant of the Blewitts of County Mayo and the Finnegans of County Louth.
“As many of you know, I, like all of you, take pride in my Irish ancestry,” Biden said at the White House St. Patrick’s Day celebration this year. “And as long as I can remember, it’s been sort of part of my soul.”
Officials have compared the Ireland portion of Biden’s trip to one he took in 2016, near the end of his tenure as vice president under President Barack Obama. Biden, accompanied by his siblings, his daughter and some of his grandchildren, spent six days in Ireland, including stops in his ancestral hometowns.
The upcoming four-day trip does not include an announced meeting with Charles, whose realms as king include Northern Ireland.
Neither does Biden plan to attend the coronation of Charles next month, when first lady Jill Biden will lead the U.S. delegation to the United Kingdom. Biden’s decision has draw some scrutiny, but it is not unusual, given that no previous U.S. president has attended a British monarch’s coronation, U.S. officials say.
On Wednesday, the White House said that during a call between the president and Charles earlier this week, Biden was invited to make a future state visit to the United Kingdom.
Biden “accepted,” according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. She added that the visit, “will happen.”