President Joe Biden should be on his best behavior during his visit to Northern Ireland and avoid making anti-British blunders that could further derail the region’s stalled political system, one of the province’s MPs said.
Claire Hanna, who represents South Belfast for the nationalist Social Democratic and Workers’ Party, said unionists were prepared to use clumsy jokes or asides for political gain.
But Biden has a habit of peppering comments about his Irish ties with reminders of his mother’s anti-English sentiment and dubious jokes about the Protestant community.
“Such blunders would be ruthlessly weaponized by the Democratic Unionist Party,” Hanna said, referring to the largest unionist party.
Biden will arrive in Belfast on Tuesday at the start of a four-day visit.
Belfast MP Claire Hanna said President Joe Biden will have to mind his manners during his visit to Northern Ireland. Any blunder will be picked up on by pro-British unionists, she said
Biden comes at a politically awkward time. Northern Ireland’s government hasn’t sat still for nearly a year amid bickering over post-Brexit trade deals
The timing was designed to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement ending decades of violence.
But it comes at a time of political crisis. The province has had no government since May last year.
The DUP has declined to participate due to bickering over post-Brexit trade deals.
And Biden is expected to meet the leaders of Northern Ireland’s five political parties on Wednesday.
Experts have little hope that any encouragement from a US president known for his pro-Irish sentiments could break the deadlock. Instead, they fear his occasional anti-British sentiments could further alienate unionists who want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom.
For example, as vice president, Biden caused massive offense to Northern Ireland’s trade union community when he joked at a St. Patrick’s Day event, “If you wear orange, you’re not welcome here.”
The predominantly Protestant Unionist community of Northern Ireland associates with the color in honor of William of Orange’s victory over Catholic forces at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.
Hanna said union members would be looking for similar slurs during Biden’s visit.
Biden is visiting for the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, which ended decades of violence. This photo from 1975 shows the aftermath of a bomb attack on the Europa Hotel
Easter is always a flashpoint in Northern Ireland, and Republican youth clashed with police in Derry on Monday, a reminder that the 1998 peace deal was just the start of a process
While many of Biden’s gaffes can be dismissed as minor, Northern Ireland’s feverish political scene means they could have a major impact.
“I mean, I think from day one they characterize Biden’s Irish roots as if they were hostile to Northern Ireland,” she told DailyMail.com.
‘You know, in Northern Ireland people will do anything to be offended. They’ll be wary of looking for something to be angry about in what he says.”
Biden spends less than a day in Northern Ireland before heading south of the border.
That schedule has already irritated some in Belfast who think he should spend more time in the province.
But it does reduce the time for blunders in such a politically sensitive place.
Biden’s maternal line emigrated from Ireland during the Great Famine. The Blewitts left Co. Mayo and settled in Scranton, PA, while the Finnegans Co. left Louth and came to New York
Unionists have long been suspicious of Biden and his Irish Catholic heritage. As a senator in 1985, he spoke out against making it easier for Irish Republican Army militants from the US to Britain, a sentiment popular with Irish-Americans but not in Britain.
He has often spoken of his mother’s hatred of England, so intense that she once refused to use a bed in which Queen Elizabeth II had slept.
In his memoir, “Promises to Keep,” he recalls a certain embarrassment about his English last name, Biden.
And he describes how his Irish-American Aunt Gertie Finnegan once said to him, “Your father is not a bad man. He’s just English.’
In 2020, as president-elect, he was conducting a brutal investigation into Britain’s national broadcaster when a BBC reporter yelled a question at him. “The BBC?” he said as he continued with a smile. “I’m Irish.”
“It’s part of the persona,” Hanna said. “Obviously he’s not mean and it’s kind of my dad’s joke. But it really doesn’t help.’