President Biden Calls for the Institutions of the Good Friday Agreement to be Restored.

President Biden began his trip to Ireland with a meeting with the British Prime Minster Rishi Sunak and then met with local political leaders in Belfast.

The President later made a speech at the University of Ulster in which he pledged the continuing support of the US to safeguard and promote the Good Friday Agreement.

The DUP continues to block the establishment of Government, and elements of unionism made clear that the President was not welcome.

The President linked continued progress and prosperity to the functioning of the Good Friday Agreement saying, "As a friend, I hope it’s not too presumptuous for me to say that I believe the democratic institutions established in Good Friday Agreement remain critical for the future of Northern Ireland"

President Biden continued, "It’s a decision for you to make, not for me to make, but it seems to me they are related. An effective devolved government that reflects the people of Northern Ireland and is accountable to them, a government that works to find ways through hard problems together, is going to draw even greater opportunity in this region.

"So, I hope the assembly and the executive will soon be restored. That's a judgment for you to make, not me, but I hope it happens, along with the institutions that facilitate north-south and east-west relations, all of which are vital pieces of the Good Friday Agreement."