US President Joe Biden left Ireland in the early hours of Saturday vowing to run again for president, promising to formally announce his decision to run for a second term “relatively soon.”
He also spoke of his hope of an epoch of renewal in Northern Ireland, restating the “incredible” US investment opportunities that lay ahead if peace endures.
Speaking to reporters in Ireland before leaving Ireland West Airport on the last leg of his four-day visit to Ireland, Biden was asked whether the past few days had changed his calculus on when to make his announcement on his plans to run.
Photo: Reuters
“No, no I have already made that calculus. We will announce it relatively soon,” he said. “The trip here just reinforced my sense of optimism about what can be done. I told you my plan is to run again.”
Biden on Friday night bounded on to the stage in Ballina by the banks of the River Moy in a display of energy and stamina after a hectic four-day visit.
The speech appeared pitched at the US afternoon audience to ease doubts that, at the age of 80, he is too old to run for another term in the White House.
Asked if he had found what he sought from his four-day trip, where he was welcomed like a deity, Biden said there was “more to be done” in Northern Ireland, but that he wanted to project a sense of “optimism” about the future there, citing the huge economic opportunities for the region, particularly in the country’s cybersecurity sector.
“There’s a lot at stake. A lot at stake, and I think the combination of Ireland — the whole island — Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the United States can change the way things occur on the continent.
Biden on Wednesday offered US$6 billion to Northern Ireland’s leaders with a promise to boost the country’s economy with US investment if power sharing is restored between the country’s Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein.
The towns of Carlingford and Ballina can expect an enduring tourism bump after the visit, given the experience of New Ross in County Wexford, which has turned itself into a shrine to former US president John F. Kennedy and is popular with Irish Americans.
Paul Kelly, CEO of Failte Ireland, the country’s tourism authority, said the board is already building on the global media attention around the two picturesque towns, the birthplaces of two of Biden’s ancestors.
Failte Ireland next week is set to host 85 international journalists at the five-star Ashford Castle hotel on the edge of Connemara in an effort to lure US tourists.
“For every euro a visitor spends, they spend two other euros in other parts of the economy, be that eating or going to the local pub or visitor attraction,” Kelly said.
The US focus on Northern Ireland has now been handed over to former US president Bill Clinton, a key player in securing the Belfast Good Friday agreement.
As Biden delivered a passionate speech in front of a crowd of 27,000 in Ballina, County Mayo, Clinton was landing in Belfast.
He is in Northern Ireland for a series of events scheduled for today to Wednesday, bringing together the key figures behind the peace deal, including former British prime minister Tony Blair and former US senator George Mitchell.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are scheduled to visit Belfast on Wednesday as efforts continue to restore political power-sharing.
While Biden’s visit to Ireland was seen as a political and diplomatic success, questions were being asked about taxpayers funding such an extended trip involving a huge delegation that involved the US secretary of state and countless other politicians.
Asked if he was sad to leave, he said: “No, I’m anxious to get home. I’m always — I love Ireland, I love the people and I love working with the taoiseach. But, you know, home is where my heart is.”
Biden was also asked about the suspected leak of hundreds of secret defense documents by a former air national guardsman Jack Teixeira.
“I’ve instructed the department to make sure that they get to the root of why he had access in the first place, number one,” Biden said. “And number two, to focus extensively on the extent to which it all occurred.”
“There’s no way to predict how long an investigation will take, but I don’t think it’s going to take very long,” he added.
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