Varadkar promised Biden a good time on his visit to Ireland, expected to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the US-brokered Good Friday Agreement on April 10.
US President Joe Biden and Ireland’s premier Leo Varadkar painted the town green on Friday, celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day – and touting Biden’s expected visit to Ireland and Northern Ireland to mark the anniversary of the Good Friday peace accords. The annual White House visit by the Irish prime minister, or taoiseach, is a cherished tradition on the Irish national holiday. That has never been more true than under Biden, who frequently trumpets his family roots in Ireland and sprinkles quotes from Irish poems through his speeches. In front of a fire in the Oval Office, Biden, sporting a sprig of shamrock in his lapel, said Saint Patrick’s is a “big day” in his house. Varadkar, also wearing shamrock, highlighted US help in tortuous negotiations over trade rules between post- Brexit Britain and its Northern Irish province and the Republic of Ireland, which is in the European Union . The arrangement, known as the Windsor Framework, is an “agreement that lasts,” Varadkar said, “which is important for Northern Ireland, and also important for British-Irish and European relations.” He promised Biden a good time on his coming visit, expected to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the US-brokered Good Friday Agreement on April 10, which ended the violent unrest known as the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
