During a visit to Belfast last year commemorating the 25th anniversary of the agreement, Biden emphasized the agreement’s significance and reiterated his ongoing support for the region.
Northern Ireland encountered a two-year struggle to establish a government under the requirement for its primary pro-British party, the Democratic Unionist Party, to share power with the Irish nationalist party Sinn Féin, O’Neill’s party.
Following the DUP’s departure in protest over Brexit-related trade issues, Stormont, the government headquarters, became effectively deadlocked.
“I anticipate witnessing the renewed stability of a power-sharing government that bolsters the peace dividend, restores public services, and perpetuates the substantial progress made over the past decades,” Biden stated, acknowledging that power will be divided between O’Neill and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly of the Democratic Unionist Party.
While the two will have equal standing, O’Neill, whose party secured more seats in the 2022 elections for the Northern Ireland Assembly, will hold the more prestigious title.
O’Neill becomes the first leader from the Irish Catholic side of the divide.
“To all of you who are British and unionist, your national identity, your cultures, your traditions are important to me,” O’Neill affirmed to the unionist benches on the far side of the Stormont chamber.
