Joe Biden has come under fire from some quarters for spending little time in Northern Ireland during his recent visit. Credit: AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
Bill and Hillary Clinton will likely succeed in helping convince the DUP to return to Stormont, where Joe Biden failed, Dame Arlene Foster suggested.
Former First The Northern Ireland minister said the Clintons would get a bigger hearing during a visit to Belfast this week because they had «more credibility» with the Unionists than with President Biden, whom she accused of snubbed Britain.
Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement will continue on 17 April with a three-day conference at Queen's University Belfast.
As President of the United States, Mr. Clinton took a keen interest in the peaceful protest in Northern Ireland and played an important role in the negotiations that culminated in a landmark agreement in 1998.
He will attend the Queen's University conference and Ms. Clinton, former US presidential candidate and Secretary of State, will be hosting the event in her capacity as Chancellor of Queen's University.
Bill Clinton will attend the Queen's University conference and Hillary Clinton will host the event as Chancellor of the Royal Council Credit: Earl Gibson III/Getty
Rishi Sunak will join the Clinton conference in what Downing Street says will be his fifth visit Mr. Sunak to Northern Ireland since he became Prime Minister, making it one of his most visited places.
Commenting on his trip, Mr Sunak said: “This week we continue to celebrate the courage, imagination and perseverance of those who made the Belfast Agreement (Good Friday). It gives me great pleasure to meet some of the world's leading architects and honor those who are no longer with us.
“It is a tribute to the 1998 agreement that we also see a younger generation of inspirational people across Northern Ireland today. Those who volunteer time and effort to actively strengthen their communities.
“Therefore, this week I will also pay tribute to the young people who continued to heal the wounds of a dark and difficult past, and to those who came before them and laid the foundation for a better future.”
The conference follows Mr. -on Biden to Ireland, during which he was criticized from some quarters for spending little time in Northern Ireland, while the senior aide was also forced to deny that the President was «anti-British».
< p>Baroness Foster, a former DUP leader who stepped down as First Minister in 2021, told The Telegraph: «The Clintons are indeed more trusted.»
«After leaving office, they continue to show interest in Northern Ireland and retained this interest so that it was not a passing phenomenon.
“Although they probably like the nationalist side of the agenda better, they have always tried to interact with and understand the position of the Unionists.
“ Despite anyone's misgivings about Bill Clinton, he has always been impartial as such.»
By comparison, Baroness Foster said that President Biden is «very much sympathetic to Irish nationalism.»
Mr. Biden often emphasizes his Irish-American roots. As vice president in 2015, he drew the ire of Unionists when he joked to then Taoiseach Irishman Enda Kenny at a St. Patrick's Day party that «if you wear orange, you're not welcome here.»
Bill Clinton has always taken a great interest in the politics of Northern Ireland. Photo: Mark Wilson.
Baroness Foster pointed to the President's decision to fly the Irish flag on his limousine when visiting the Republic of Ireland, but not the Union flag when visiting Ireland. Belfast.
“It gets to the point where when he comes to Northern Ireland he doesn’t fly the country flag in his car, despite the fact that when President Obama was here in 2013 for the G8 he flew the Union flag in his car in Enniskillen.” she said.
«People think, 'Oh, that's just nitpicking' — it's not nitpicking, it's actually a show of respect for the country you're in.»
G- Mr Biden's visit was also marked by a gaffe when he confused the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team with the Black and Tans, a British force that earned a reputation for brutal reprisals during the Irish War of Independence.
“It shows his way of thinking,” Baroness Foster said. «Who would have thought of black and tan?»
She added that Mr. Biden's intervention was more pleasant when he gave a pre-arranged speech on the Good Friday Accord at Ulster University. “The performance was clearly designed to get attention and I think everyone appreciated it,” she said.
“After all, he is president, so it’s always an honor to have a visit from the president.” United States, regardless of who holds this post.
«We are getting disproportionate attention in Northern Ireland from the US administration and that has been helpful in the past, especially when Clinton and others have been involved.»
The party has been boycotting the Stormont Assembly since last year to protest post-Brexit agreements that it says threaten Northern Ireland's place in the Union. hearing, she said the current stalemate could only be broken if Rishi Sunak spoke out about the DUP's unresolved concerns about its Windsor Framework agreement with the EU.
Mr Sunak is set to speak at the Queen's conference as well as will host a 25th Anniversary Gala Dinner.
“The power to make progress lies with the Prime Minister and engagement with the DUP,” she said.
«While of course this anniversary was always meant to be significant because it's 25 years old, I think it's important that once the commemorations are over, the focus is on what needs to be done.»
American companies are willing to invest in Northern Ireland, says Biden
There are «incredible opportunities» in Northern Ireland. for economic growth, Mr. Biden insisted, vowing to continue working with the British and Irish governments to restore the transition.
During his four-day visit to the island of Ireland, the President of the United States declared " ;hundreds" US corporations were willing to invest in Northern Ireland, but were «cautious». about the absence of a devolved government in the region.
He also said that the UK should work more closely with the Irish government to support the people of Northern Ireland.
The President again addressed the power-sharing impasse in Stormont on Saturday when he returned to the United States.
Devolution is in the fridge in Stormont due to the political impasse over post-Brexit trade.
< p>"We have things to do in the north" the president told reporters in Delaware.
"We still have a lot of work to do to form a government. And I think we can still do it, and that's important.
"And I will also continue to work with the Prime Minister of England (UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak). like Taoiseach (Leo Varadkar)."
During his trip to the island, Biden repeatedly expressed hope for a return to devolution north of the border and insisted that economic stability could ensure stable governance in Stormont. height. a windfall for the region.
"This is such an opportunity" he said Saturday in the US.
"This is truly an incredible opportunity for the north in terms of economic growth and economic prosperity.
" And they have all the tools. They have universities. They have technicians"
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