Ireland visit was to make sure ‘Brits don’t screw around’ – Biden

The US president was critical of London’s commitment to Irish affairs following his visit last month… US President Joe Biden said at a Democratic Party event in New York on Wednesday that his four-day visit to Ireland last month was designed to make sure that “the Brits didn’t screw around” when it came to London’s commitments towards Northern Ireland and its relations with the leadership in Dublin. Biden told reporters at the event: “I got to go back to Ireland for the, for the, the Irish accords, to make sure they weren’t, the Brits didn’t screw around and Northern Ireland didn’t walk away from their commitments.” His visit to the island, the majority of which was spent in the Republic of Ireland, marked the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement – the 1998 political deal that brought an end to decades of conflict between predominantly Catholic and Protestant factions in Northern Ireland during which thousands of people lost their lives. Ahead of the trip, Biden told the…