JOE BIDEN ARRIVED in Belfast this evening.
Air Force One touched down on the tarmac in Belfast International Airport at 9.20pm.
Over the coming days, the US President will make his way to Belfast, Dublin, Louth and Mayo as part of the visit.
He’s then due to travel to Louth tomorrow afternoon, with visits to both Carlingford and Dundalk planned.
Good evening!
Welcome to The Journal‘s liveblog on US President Joe Biden’s official visit to Ireland.
Updates this evening will be from Tadgh McNally, Eoghan Dalton and David Mac Redmond.
Biden is currently making his way across the Atlantic towards Belfast, where he’s expected to land at around 9pm this evening.
Before he left Joint Base Andrews earlier this afternoon, Biden was asked by reporters what he hoped to achieve by heading to Ireland.
This is what he said:
“Make sure the Irish Accords and the Windsor Agreements stay in place, to keep the peace. That’s the main thing.”
It looks set to be a busy few days, with the US President due to head to Dublin, Louth and Mayo between today and Friday.
Tomorrow, he’s due to meet with political party leaders in Northern Ireland, before making an address to Ulster University.
Then in the afternoon, Biden is off to Louth where he has some ancestral roots. In particular, he’s due to visit Carlingford and Dundalk for a walking tour of both towns.
On Thursday, Biden will be in Dublin where he will travel to Phoenix Park, where he’s due to meet with President Michael D Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in Farmleigh.
In the afternoon, Biden will travel across Dublin city centre to Leinster House, where he is due to address a joint sitting of the Dáil and Seanad. It will be the fourth time a US President has addressed the Oireachtas, following on from speeches by John F Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.
The trip will then conclude on Friday, with Biden heading to Mayo for a trip to both Knock and then Ballina.
The US President is due to make a public speech outside St Muredach’s Cathedral in Ballina.
This event is open to the public and anyone who wishes to attend can register here.
Biden is currently on board Air Force One, a Boeing 747-200B aircraft.
The plane itself is huge, with over 4,000 square feet of floor space across three levels, and includes an extensive presidential suite with a large office, bathroom and conference room.
There is also space for staff accompanying the President – typically Secret Service staff, advisors and travelling media – as well as a medical suite that can be used as an operating room by the doctor permanently posted on board.
The aircraft also has a number of security features designed to protect the President in-flight. These include onboard electronics that have been “hardened” in order to resist an electromagnetic pulse and advanced communications equipment which allow Air Force One to function as a mobile command centre in an emergency situation.
The term Air Force One is often used to refer to the jet that was made so famous in the 1997 action film of the same name starring Harrison Ford as the daring commander-in-chief. But technically, the designation Air Force One applies to any aircraft that is carrying the US president.
While there has been a mostly positive reaction to Biden’s visit, it has drawn some criticism.
People Before Profit in particular have stated their opposition to Biden’s arrival in Ireland, with protests and a boycott of the US President’s address to the Oireachtas.
The party is currently organising a series of public meetings on the topic of US foreign policy in Cork, Galway and Dublin over the course of this week.
The talks will focus on the “double standards” of Joe Biden’s administration in international affairs.
In a statement, PBP pointed to US military support Israel and Saudi Arabia and compared that with the American response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“While Biden arms Ukraine to fight an aggressor there, he arms the aggressor in Palestine,” the statement read.
Richard Boyd Barrett said:
“Joe Biden needs to be forcefully challenged over his long-standing and unconditional support for the apartheid regime in Israel and its brutal and criminal treatment of Palestinians; his pivotal role in promoting the US invasion and occupation of Iraq; his active promotion of NATO expansion and the on-going and blatant double-standards of US foreign policy globally.”
A spokesperson for the party said that PBP would attend the Dáil sitting if party leaders were given the opportunity to ask questions or deliver statements.
There’s still another hour or so before Joe Biden touches down in Belfast, so here’s a couple of photos from earlier today:
In Mayo, there’s plenty of construction in Ballina in preparation for Joe Biden’s visit on Friday, with a stage being constructed outside St Muredach’s Cathedral.
The US President is due to address crowds in the town on Friday evening.
Stage construction is well on it's way, and it's going to be a lot bigger than anything we have seen in Ballina before.#POTUS46 #BidenVisit pic.twitter.com/pvMi14bRnP
— Ballina 2023 (@ballina2023) April 11, 2023
Meanwhile, barriers are being put up on Clanbrassil Street in Dundalk ahead of Biden’s visit to the town tomorrow afternoon.
NEWS: Security barriers being erected in Dundalk this evening ahead of tomorrow's visit by @POTUS @JoeBiden pic.twitter.com/qWNIPJ63mi
— LMFM RADIO (@LMFMRADIO) April 11, 2023
Biden is not travelling on his own to Ireland, but is heading over on Air Force One with his son Hunter and sister Valerie.
Hunter Biden, the younger son of Joe Biden, is an attorney and former hedge fund manager. He’s previously spoken about his struggle with drug addiction and was the centre of a political storm surrounding his laptop.
Meanwhile, his sister Valerie has worked in politics for decades, having been the campaign manager for Joe Biden’s previous Presidential runs in 1998 and 2008.
One of the key parts of Biden’s visit to Ireland will be the security operation that takes place around it, with the cost of such an operation expected to run into the millions.
Both Gardaí and military personnel will work on the operation, with Gardaí set to police locations in Ballina and Knock in Co Mayo, across Dundalk and Co Louth and of course in Dublin.
A massive search operation will be carried out by trained teams of gardaí – these gardaí will be taken off their regular duties and they act as the search team.
Every manhole cover along a cavalcade route will be searched, the roofs of buildings will be searched, the occupants of each building identified.
Along motorways, gardaí will be posted at culverts and manholes to ensure they are not interfered with.
Then at locations plain clothes garda detectives will be embedded in groups of dignitaries and crowds. There will be sniper teams from the garda Emergency Response Unit, augmented by their colleagues in the Irish army.
We’ve got some more details here on Joe Biden’s speech in Ballina on Friday.
Ahead of Biden’s speech, there’ll be performances by The Coronas, The Academic as well as legendary folk band The Chieftains.
The Chieftains previously played for Biden when he visited Ireland in 2016 and are reuniting to play on Friday evening.
“This reunion of the band and President Biden will be an emotional one, since we lost the legendary Paddy Moloney in 2021,” US Ambassador to Ireland, Claire Cronin said.
“I am honoured to say that The Chieftains will reunite one last time in honour of President Biden and play together for the first time since Paddy’s passing.”
Anyone interested in attending the event on Friday are being asked to register online here.
Air Force One is just north of Lough Neagh at the moment, with the plane expected to touch down in Belfast International Airport in the next 20 or so minutes.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is now waiting for Biden to disembark from Air Force One.
US President Joe Biden has disembarked from Air Force One and has met with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Joining him is Joe Kennedy III, who is the US Special Envoy for Northern Ireland.
Biden’s sister Valerie and his son Hunter were among those met by UK prime minister Rishi Sunak on the tarmac in Belfast.
White House reporter for Bloomberg News Jennifer Jacobs is among the US press who have travelled with the president for the trip.
Biden greeted on windy, chilly Belfast night by UK’s prime minister @RishiSunak, UK’s ambassador to US @KarenPierceUK @USAmbUK Jane Hartley, Northern Ireland’s @chhcalling.
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) April 11, 2023
POTUS’s sister Valerie and son Hunter joined the tarmac receiving line. pic.twitter.com/eUvaoiyTUD
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