Image source, Getty Images

As we've been reporting, US President Joe Biden has called for a return to power-sharing in Northern Ireland.

The Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont was established as a result of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 - which Biden is visiting to commemorate - but it's currently not functioning.

This is because the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is boycotting power-sharing – a rule that Northern Ireland’s two biggest parties work together in government.

The DUP says post-Brexit trade rules mean Northern Ireland is treated differently to the rest of the UK - which as unionists they’re not prepared to tolerate.

The party has also blocked the election of a speaker a number of times, leaving Stormont in political paralysis.

Message clear in Biden speechpublished at 13:52 British Summer Time 12 April 2023

13:52 BST 12 April 2023

Enda McClafferty
NI political editor

Image source, Reuters

President Biden managed to deliver a speech that hit all the right notes with the invited audience.

And he was swamped as he left the stage by people armed with their phones for a selfie.

His speech was very much pitched at reminding people at what is at stake

Democracy, he said, can not be taken for granted and reminded those in the room about the risks taken 25 years ago by the architects of the Good Friday Agreement.

Biden added that democracy in Northern Ireland needed champions now to do the same.

While he didn't namecheck the DUP, it was pretty clear who he was directing those comments to in terms of getting Stormont back up and running.

Image source, Getty Images

Here are the key moments from US President Joe Biden's speech in Belfast:

• Biden hailed the signing of the Good Friday Agreement 25 years ago this week and said "peace was not inevitable - we can never forget that"

• He said that preserving the peace of the agreement was a "priority" for US Democrats and Republicans alike
• He said he hoped the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Executive "will soon be restored", but added, "that's a decision for you to make"
• He spoke about the recent attempted murder of Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell in Omagh and said levels of violence witnessed during the Troubles must not be allowed to return
• He said Northern Ireland's GDP has more than doubled since the agreement was signed in 1998

• Biden encouraged leaders in the UK and the EU to address issues created by Brexit in a way that serves Northern Ireland's best interests

During his speech a short time ago, Biden compared the situation in Northern Ireland 25 years ago with the modern day - saying it's a testament to the power of peace.

He said: "Where barbed wire once sliced up the city, today we find a cathedral of learning, built of glass".

Biden reflected on the "profound impact" it's had on him to come back and see the Ulster University building.

Has NI’s GDP really more than doubled since 1998?published at 13:33 British Summer Time 12 April 2023

13:33 BST 12 April 2023

John Campbell
NI Economics and Business Editor

Biden mentioned this in his address just now at Ulster University. The short answer is: Only if you don’t adjust it for inflation. And you should adjust it for inflation.

The Ulster University economist Esmond Birnie has used official data to calculate that real (inflation adjusted) GDP growth in NI between 1998 and 2020 was about 28%.

Growth for the UK as a whole in that period was about 33%.

A similar recent analysis by economic historians at Queens University has looked at GDP per head., external

That found real growth of 27% between 1998 and 2019.

In his closing remarks, Biden says "compassion" is the real power of the Good Friday Agreement.

He says Northern Ireland was "transformed" and "made whole" by peace.

He pledges that the US will continue to be Northern Ireland's partner in "building the future that the young people of our world deserve".

"It matters to us, to Americans, and to me personally," he adds.

He says 25 "extraordinary years" should be celebrated by recommitting to renewal and repair and by making peace the birth right of "every child of Northern Ireland for all the days to come".

With that he ends his address at Ulster University. Stay with us as we bring you analysis on his speech.

Biden says in politics, "if we look hard enough", there's always areas that bring people together.

Referring to the attempted murder of Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell, Biden pays tribute to the five main political parties in Belfast for coming together afterwards.

In February, Det Ch Insp John Caldwell was shot several times by two gunmen as he was putting footballs into his car boot after coaching a youth training session in Omagh.

"Northern Ireland will not go back," Biden adds, suggesting previous levels of violence should not return.

Biden says that an "effective devolved government that reflects the people of Northern Ireland, and is accountable to them, that works to find ways to face hard problems together will grow greater opportunities for the region".

"I hope the Assembly and the Executive will soon be restored" along with opportunities to facilitate relationships between the north and south, he says.

"That's a decision for you to make, not for me to make.

"Northern Ireland will not go back, pray God."

Biden speaks now about Brexit and says he knows the UK's departure created "complex challenges" in Northern Ireland.

He says he would "encourage" leaders in the UK and the EU to address the issues in a way that serves Northern Ireland's best interests.

Biden adds that he appreciates the "personal leadership" of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen to reach an agreement on the Windsor Framework.

He says the agreement offers "stability and predictability" and encourages greater investment in Northern Ireland.

Biden now goes on to discuss young people moving away from Northern Ireland for work, which he says is "not happening now".

He says the economic opportunity for NI is "just beginning", with special envoy Joe Kennedy put in place to supercharge this.

The US president adds that young people in Northern Ireland are on the "cutting edge" of the future.

There's a huge cheer for Belfast barista turned Hollywood star James Martin - who was in the Oscar winning movie An Irish Goodbye - as he gets a shout out from the president.

President Biden claps along with the crowd and says: "I got to meet James, got my picture taken with him and I went home and bragged to my daughter."

Biden tells the audience Northern Ireland's GDP has more than doubled since 1998.

The US president predicts it'll "more than triple" if things continue to "go the right way".

He says American businesses have generated $2bn in investment in the region and the country is a "shrine of creativity".

Biden says that an Irishman designed and built the White House. "That's not a joke!" he says.

"Your history is our history and more importantly, your future is America's future.

"The simple truth is peace and economic opportunity go together."

Biden pays tribute to countless Irish people who "made opportunities across the Atlantic" by planting farms and making communities, "but never forgetting their connections to this island".

He also speaks of America's "pride in Ulster-Scots immigrants who helped found and build my country".

Biden says: "Men born in Ulster were among those who signed the declaration of independence, pledging their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honour for freedom's cause."

He adds: "The man who printed the revolutionary document was John Dunlop - from County Tyrone."

"Countless others established new lives", but he adds, they "never forgot the connection to this island".

Those who have been to America know there is a large population who are "invested in what happens here and cares a great deal about what happens here", Biden continues.

He says that preserving the Good Friday Agreement and peace in Northern Ireland is a "priority" for Democrats and Republicans alike - something that he claims is rare in modern-day US politics.

President Biden says it brings Americans together.

When he was elected in 1972, he recalls the the possibility of peace felt "so far away".

The US president now moves on to talk about how peace in Northern Ireland "shifted the political gravity in our world".

He says in 1998, The Troubles was the longest running conflict in Europe since the end of World War Two.

He goes on to discuss how personal the pain was and how every person killed during the Troubles "left empty chair at the dining room table".

"Peace was not inevitable - we can never forget that," he adds.

He quotes George Mitchell that there were "700 days of failure and one day of success" in the peace negotiations.

But he says that they kept going because those involved believed peace was possible.

"Dividends of peace are all around us," Biden continues.

Biden goes on to discuss the signing of the landmark Good Friday Agreement 25 years ago this week.

He tells the audience there were no guarantees that they'd be able to deliver the progress that we now see today.

He adds that it took people coming together all across Northern Ireland to make it work.

Joe Biden begins by recalling when he came to Belfast in 1991 and you couldn't have a glass building in the neighbourhood where Ulster University now stands due to the Troubles.

Things are changing, Biden adds. He thanks his hosts for the welcome to Belfast, adding that it was wonderful to meet the different party leaders from Northern Ireland.

Image source, PA Media

US President Joe Biden has just begun speaking at Ulster University.

Biden is expected to commend the success of the Good Friday Agreement, signed 25 years ago, which was a peace deal that helped bring stability to Northern Ireland after 30 years of violence during the Troubles.

Stay with us as we bring you his remarks.

Image source, PA Media

The great and the good of Northern Ireland have arrived at Ulster University to greet the president. And among them is a homegrown Hollywood star.

Northern Irish film - An Irish Goodbye - won an Oscar for best live action short film in March, and the break-out star of the film James Martin has been invited along. He's among the politicians and community representatives waiting to hear President Biden's address.

We know Sinn Féin's Michelle O'Neill, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, Alliance's Naomi Long, Ulster Unionist Doug Beattie and Colum Eastwood of the SDLP are there to meet the president.

But also there is NI Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris, his Labour shadow Peter Kyle and Simon Byrne, Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

Biden carrying a carrot rather than a stickpublished at 12:49 British Summer Time 12 April 2023

12:49 BST 12 April 2023

Sarah Smith
North America editor, in Belfast

President Biden has come to Belfast carrying a carrot rather than a stick. He hopes to encourage the resumption of devolved government at Stormont with the promise of greater economic investment from America.

I asked a senior official if that financial aid would only be forthcoming if the power-sharing is up and running again.

America’s commitment to NI stands on its own with preconditions, I was told.

But it was also stressed that business leaders prize stability and devolved government is required to deliver that stability.