Joe Biden in Northern Ireland: why people in Belfast are still hopeful despite the Stormont stalemate

Northern Ireland is preparing to welcome US President Joe Biden this evening (11 April), before he gives a key address to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement at the newly opened Ulster University campus tomorrow.

The visit is taking place just one week after Northern Ireland’s terror threat level was increased from “substantial” to “severe”, meaning an attack is highly likely and a few days after the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) revealed they have received “strong” intelligence that dissidents were planning attacks, with officers attacked yesterday with petrol bombs in Derry/Londonderry.

Set against that backdrop, I made my way into Belfast city centre, finding myself caught in a traffic jam as a Unionist parade marched by. I made a detour through the backstreets coloured with murals and found myself driving down some of the streets I had tentatively played in as a child just days before the Good Friday Agreement was announced in 1998.

Upon arriving in the city centre, the streets were deserted as I parked beside the newly opened Ulster University campus where President Biden will make his key address. Aside from barriers, police jeeps and officers it was relatively quiet, with news crews largely having the most vocal presence facing the university. The same could be said for Bedford Street, where the President is due to stay in the Grand Central Hotel. The street was closed off with barriers, with entrance both in and out of the hotel closely monitored.

Northern Ireland often feels like a land in limbo - but especially in recent years. There has been no functioning government at Stormont since February 2022 and yet despite changes to the NI Protocol and the introduction of the Windsor Framework, power-sharing has yet to be restored.

This is not the first time people have been left without a functioning executive. The last 25 years have helped establish a legacy of peace and prosperity, but political instability has been a constant backdrop, with five suspended governments leaving direct rule ministers and now civil servants to fill the void.

This means that in the midst of a cost of living crisis and soaring NHS waiting lists, residents in the poorest region of the UK for disposable income have no devolved political representation. The lack of government and hope that President’s Biden visit might be able to help resolve the situation was something that the locals I spoke with touched upon.

“I’m just happy to see the US getting involved and any support we can get as a country from bigger global players is always good,” said Ian Wasson, a 38-year-old office director whose building is across from the Grand Central Hotel. When asked about the disruption caused by the visit, he added: “The office is still open, we are still able to come and do our job, it’s no worse than any other standard Bank Holiday when the buses don’t really run anyway and doesn’t have too much impact.”

Speaking with younger people, there was a sense of hope and positivity about the visit and the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. Student Caitlin, 18, spoke about the significance of the anniversary: “I do think it’s extremely significant, especially now, it’s allowed so much to happen, so much progress.”

She said she felt that the peace deal has "brought a lot of good throughout the years" and on President Biden she said she's hopeful he can help - “especially with his roots in Ireland, I think he might be able to give some political insight to the politicians here.”

I was just seven when the Good Friday Agreement was signed. I still distinctly remember watching the historic moment with my mother on the TV and her attempting to instil in me the significance of what this meant.

As a mixed marriage family growing up in the nineties there had always been an air of fear - what to say, what to wear, how to pronounce certain words. These questions were constant themes throughout my childhood, all under the guise of preventing anyone from finding out to keep us safe. For my parents the agreement meant peace, hope, a future and possibilities for me and my siblings that they could never have dared dream about.

Yet 25 years on, whilst I am grateful for the stability and peace it has brought, to the shared future that is now becoming a reality, the politics of the past are still seeping into the hope of the future.

The stalemate of government and the detrimental impact that is having on being able to access essential services has a huge impact. From speaking with people in Belfast today, I caught a sense of hope, one that I’ll admit I had long lost.

All people here want is a functioning government, something to drive politicians to get back to Stormont to tackle the issues that are impacting the lives of citizens everyday. There was a real feeling that maybe, just maybe, President Biden could help kickstart that.