the deal largely brought an end to the 30 year conflict in northern ireland, known as the troubles. but political turmoil persists, even if less violent in nature than the past. here s president biden s schedule: on wednesdeay, biden will deliver a speech at ulster university, before travelling to the republic of ireland. there, he ll celebrate his own family s roots, attending events in louth and mayo. there will also be official discussions in dublin, where biden will meet with irish president michael d. higgins. he ll then head back to america on friday. the bbc s lucy hockings has more from belfast. so president biden has arrived and there was a small crowd that came down to the centre of belfast to greet him. they braved the wind and the rain. the weather has truly been atrocious. to welcome him to belfast. and i spoke to one northern ireland politics student and he said the reason he had come was because a visit by one of the most powerful people in the world, a us pres
the deal largely brought an end to the 30 year conflict in northern ireland, known as the troubles but political turmoil persists, even if less violent in nature than the past. here s president biden s schedule: on wednesday, biden will deliver a speech at ulster university before travelling to the republic of ireland. there, he ll celebrate his own family s roots, attending events in louth and mayo. there will also be official discussions in dublin, where biden will meet with irish president michael d. higgins. he ll then head back to america on friday. the bbc s lucy hockings has more from belfast. so president biden has arrived and there was a small crowd that came down to the centre of belfast to greet him. they braved the wind and the rain the weather has truly been atrocious to welcome him to belfast. ana i spoke to one northern ireland politics student and he said the reason that he had come was because a visit by one of the most powerful people in the world, a us
in northern ireland. my guest is us congressman richard neal, a democrat and co chair of the friends of ireland caucus group. to what extent is the wider us uk relationship tied to the situation in northern ireland? congressman richard neal in springfield, massachusetts, welcome to hardtalk. pleased to be with you. well, it s a pleasure to have you on the show. what doesjoe biden s determination to be on the island of ireland to mark this 25th anniversary of the good friday agreement, what does it tell us about the priority he puts on doing what he can to maintaining the solidity of the peace there? well, i think it s a historic anniversary and i think america served as an honest broker through the negotiations and they were able through, i think, strategy and patience to bring about a successful conclusion to the agreement, recalling that before the agreement, there were 30,000 british soldiers in an area the size of our state of connecticut. there were 106 military installa
and a pair of trainers worn by the us basketball superstar michaeljordan sells at auction for a record 2.2 million dollars. hello and welcome to the programme. president biden has arrived in belfast for a four day trip to mark the 25th anniversary of the historic good friday agreement. the landmark deal largely brought to an end the 30 year conflict in northern ireland, known as the troubles. president biden says he looks forward to reiterating america s commitment to preserving the peace. my colleague emma vardy has more. air force one arrives at belfast international, and northern ireland s first presidential visit in ten years is under way. time for a short hello with rishi sunak on the tarmac before the president was whisked away for the night. a ring of steel is in place in belfast city centre in what is one of the biggest security operations here of recent years. we ve been planning for this for a number of weeks. we ve prepared for all the various contingencies. our st