Biden: "political violence must never be allowed to take hold again" Biden says that he told politicians in Northern Ireland yesterday that companies who want to invest in the country are wary because of the lack of functioning political institutions. “They are cautious because the institutions are not in place. We must never forget that peace, even though has it has become a lived reality for an entire generation, peace is precious. It still needs its champions. It still needs to be nurtured. “The Good Friday agreement didn’t just change lives for the better in Northern Ireland, it has significant positive impact across the Republic of Ireland as well.” To applause he says that the UK should be working closer with both countries. “Political violence should never be allowed to take hold in this island,” he said. Summary That’s all for today, as Joe Biden addressed the Irish parliament on the penultimate day of his visit to the island of Ireland. Biden said that “political violence must never take hold” in Ireland again. He said that companies were also wary of investing in Northern Ireland because of the lack of a functioning assembly. “We must never forget that peace, even though it has become a lived reality for an entire generation, peace is precious. It still needs its champions. It still needs to be nurtured,” he said. One of the most stirring parts of his speech was where he said the enduring legacy of the Good Friday agreement had meant there was no “checkpoints on young people’s dreams”. “It’s so good to be back in Ireland,” he began the address to the lower house of the Dáil, and added “I’m at home” in Irish. At a brief meeting with the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, Biden praised the “emerging stronger and stronger relationship” with Ireland. And away from Biden’s visit: Rishi Sunak did an interview with the ConservativeHome website where he refused to say if the Tories were planning on retaliating to Labour’s latest advertising campaign. NHS data methodology changes revealed that 10% of people wait more than 12 hours in A&E in England. Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, has said that reforming the Gender Recognition Act can be done without undermining women’s rights. A Conservative councillor has been suspended after the publication of an alleged recording of him saying all white men should have a black slave. The presiding officer of the Scottish parliament, Alison Johnstone, has introduced a series of “deeply regrettable” restrictions on public access to the Holyrood chamber, which will come into force after recess ends next week, following prolonged disruptions to FMQs by anti-fossil fuel protesters. Chris Philp, the policing minister, was giving interviews on Thursday morning, and told LBC he was “deeply concerned” about figures showing one mobile phone is reported stolen in London every six minutes. Thanks for following along. We’ll be back tomorrow. After a tribute following his speech the session of the parliament is adjourned. Biden leaves to more applause. He hugged former Irish president Mary McAleese as he left the Dail chamber. He stopped to speak to former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams and ex-taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who were both involved in the Good Friday agreement talks. Biden also exchanged words with another former taoiseach, Enda Kenny. He says it’s the greatest honour of his career to be at the Irish parliament. Biden said his grandfather Finnegan compared him to the figure who led the Easter Rising in 1916, presumably referring to James Connolly, and said he needed to be more like president Éamon De Valera. He comes onto his peroration. “Folks, we can do so much. It doesn’t even break down to ideology. It breaks down to faith in ourselves. Our values. No matter what party we belong to, our values are the same. It’s about honesty, dignity, justice and you all have every ingredient to make it work. It’s an honour to be here, thank you very much.” He then receives another standing ovation. “Today is Seamus Heaney’s birthday,” Biden says. Heaney’s widow is in the public gallery. “I was always quoting Irish poetry in the Senate in my career. My colleagues always thought I did it because I was Irish, it’s not the reason. They are the best poets in the world.” He thanks Heaney’s widow for sending him an autographed cup. “My favourite poem was The Cure at Troy, and it goes ‘don’t hope on this side of the grave. But then, once in a lifetime, that long tidal wave of justice can rise up and hope and history rhyme’. “It’s everything I’ve been taught. Rise up. In the past we’ve made hope and history rhyme, so today ladies and gentlemen we celebrate the enduring partnership between our nations, our shared past and present. Let’s set our sight squarely on the future, let’s harness the best in us, our courage, our creativity, our loyalty, our tenacity and our loyalty again. “Let’s once more for our generation and the generation to come, strive to make hope and history rhyme because I have never been more optimistic about the future than I am today, and I am at the end of my career, not the beginning. “One thing I bring to this career at my age – as you can see, how old I am – but there is a little bit of wisdom. I have come to the job with more experience than any other American president in history, it doesn’t make me better or worse, but it gives me a few excuses.” This triggers a few laughs, possibly after the slip up yesterday confusing the All Blacks with the Black and Tans. Biden continues in his strongest and most passionate section of the speech: “As we meet these struggles, they cast a show on our world. The struggle between the rights of many and desires of few, between liberty and oppression, and I know I get criticised for saying this around the world, between democracy and autocracy. “It is a competition that is real. “We are called to this world just as every generation before us has been. In this moment the world needs Ireland and the United States and our limitless imaginations. “I have met with Xi Jingping more than any world leader has over the past ten years. 91 hours of just one-on-one conversations. “He once asked me ‘can you define America for me?’ It’s the god’s truth. “I said yes I can, in one word. But if you asked about Ireland I could have said the same thing. ‘Possibilities.’” His voice rises: “We believe anything is possible if we set our mind to it, and we do it together. This is the United States of America and Ireland, there is nothing beyond our capacity if we do it together. We have to believe that. We’ve got to know that. That’s the history of both our countries. It’s about defending the values handed down to us by our ancestors, keeping the flame of freedom we inherited, the beacon that’s going to guide our children and grandchildren. It’s a struggle we are fit to fight together. “Now is the time for Ireland and the United States to meet that challenge. And I mean that. To raise together, to rise up, and our joys and triumphs to preserve together and persevere through sorrows and setbacks, to dream together of horizons we can’t see. To build together a future that maybe doesn’t exist, a future that can be.” The president turns to the economic relationship between the US and Ireland. “Today Ireland’s story is nobody’s to tell but its own. The United States will be your closest partner, your most dependable partner and your most enthusiastic partner every step of the way, I promise you. We have always been, and we’ve been together and we’re going to continue to grow our enormous economic relationship as a foundation for both our nations’ prosperity. “Ireland pulls a disproportionate amount of direct international investment from the United States of America, the same is true for Ireland’s investment into the United States.” He returns to an earlier theme. “Together…[we] are building a future of economic dignity, one where rights of workers are respected and corporations pay their fair share.” The last line is interesting with Google having a headquarters in Ireland, an arrangement which has previously been criticised. Biden: "greatest peace dividend is no checkpoint on dreams of Irish young people" Biden continues: “The greatest peace dividend of the Good Friday agreement is an entire generation of young people … whose hearts have been shaped not by grievances of the past, but by the confidence that there are no checkpoints on their dreams. They are writing a new future of unlimited possibilities. “For too long Ireland has talked about the past tense, we tell old stories of days gone by, it’s good to remember. Stories of Irish grit and genius, saints and scholars, poets and politicians and in the face of it, they are good stories. “But, as the poet Boland wrote, in Mother Ireland … ‘I learned my name, I rose up, I remembered it. Now I could tell my story, it was different from the story told about me.’” Biden: "political violence must never be allowed to take hold again" Biden says that he told politicians in Northern Ireland yesterday that companies who want to invest in the country are wary because of the lack of functioning political institutions. “They are cautious because the institutions are not in place. We must never forget that peace, even though has it has become a lived reality for an entire generation, peace is precious. It still needs its champions. It still needs to be nurtured. “The Good Friday agreement didn’t just change lives for the better in Northern Ireland, it has significant positive impact across the Republic of Ireland as well.” To applause he says that the UK should be working closer with both countries. “Political violence should never be allowed to take hold in this island,” he said. US and Ireland standing together against "brutal aggression" of Russia Biden said that the connections between the two countries have “irrevocably” shaped the understanding of the world. “You know what it means to fight for democracy. Today, Ireland and the United States are standing together to oppose Russia’s brutal aggression and support the brave people of Ukraine.” He added: “President Kennedy said 60 years ago: Ireland pursues an independent course in foreign policy, but it is not neutral between liberty and tyranny and it never will be. Thank you for that. “Over the last year Ireland has stood for liberty against tyranny.” He then goes on to talk about the money and resources Ireland has given to Ukraine in their fight against Russia. “I have known Putin for over 25 years. Putin thought everyone would look the other way. He was confident he would break Nato and the European Union and the unity of western nations would fracture and fall at the moment of testing. That’s what he thought. But he was wrong. He was wrong on every front. Today we are more united and more determined than ever before to defend the values that make us strong.”