US President Joe Biden’s trip to Belfast blighted by terror alert

Joe Biden’s visit to Northern Ireland next week was overshadowed by the heightened terror threat and political vacuum in Stormont.

The US president is due to arrive in Belfast on Tuesday, but police in the province fear dissident Republicans could carry out attacks the day before.

Chiefs of Police of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said police had received ‘strong’ intelligence about plans to carry out terror attacks against officers in Londonderry on Easter Monday.

Biden will arrive Tuesday evening ahead of a day of commemorative events marking the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, which was signed on April 10, 1998.

The peace deal was a diplomatic achievement that established power-sharing in the province and largely ended 30 years of bloodshed.

But the president will not visit Stormont, where he hoped to address the Assembly. While sources blamed logistics, it has been speculated that the decision was made for political reasons.

Stormont has not functioned since last February, when the DUP withdrew its prime minister from the ministerial executive in protest of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said he could sympathize with Mr Biden’s decision not to address the Assembly.

“I mean, why would he go to an empty building? He might as well go to a wake,” he told RTE yesterday.

On Thursday, PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Bobby Singleton said the force had received “strong” intelligence that dissidents plan to carry out terror attacks against officers on the bank holiday.

It comes after MI5 recently raised the threat level for terrorism in Northern Ireland to severe, meaning an attack is highly likely. This followed the gun attack in Co Tyrone on Senior Detective John Caldwell, who suffered life-changing injuries. Police have blamed the New IRA for the attack.

Easter Monday is the day on which dissident republicans traditionally celebrate the anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising against British rule, with a parade to take place in Londonderry. DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said yesterday that the idea that the collapse of power-sharing institutions had fueled violence was “false”.

On Thursday, PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Bobby Singleton said the force had received “strong” intelligence that dissidents are planning terror attacks against officers on the bank holiday.

“While Stormont sat for many years, these dissident republicans were violent and murdered police officers,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

He added: ‘I remember at a meeting of the General Assembly they killed two soldiers in Co Antrim as they were preparing to deploy to Afghanistan. Sure, we want Stormont to be fully functional, but the idea that if we get Stormont back to work, dissident Republicans will put their guns away, I didn’t hear the Chief Constable [Simon Byrne] suggests that. The idea that evil men and women who go out to kill are responding to political circumstances is just not right.”

It is clear that Mr Biden’s journey to Northern Ireland will only include one assignment at the University of Ulster. He will also visit Dublin, Co Louth and Co Mayo next week. He is expected to give a speech to the Irish Parliament, but without his Secret Service agents.

His armed bodyguards have been banned from the Dail’s room in Dublin because guns are not allowed. But a compromise has been reached whereby they can stand just six feet away from the president behind an open door during the speech, the Daily Telegraph reports.