Joe Biden has said he travelled to Ireland last month to ensure “the Brits didn’t screw around” and “walk away” from their commitments in the Good Friday Agreement.
His comments were made during a fund-raising speech in New York on Wednesday night.
Biden undertook a four-day visit to Ireland to mark 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement in April.
His trip also focused on his Irish ancestry with the majority of his time spent in the Republic of Ireland.
On Wednesday he said: "I got to go back to Ireland for the Irish Accords, to make sure they weren't, the Brits didn't screw around, and Northern Ireland didn't walk away from their commitments."
Prior to his visit to Belfast, the president said his priority
was to "keep the peace" in Northern Ireland.
He and other senior
democrats saw Brexit as a threat to the peace process because it risked a
return to a hard border on the island of Ireland.
The president
previously warned Britain it discard a UK-US trade deal if it carried out
its threat to ruin the Irish Sea border treaty with the EU.
The
White House confirmed that both leaders "reaffirmed their shared commitment"
to the Good Friday Agreement.
In 1998, the deal brought an end to
the Troubles - the decades-long violent conflict in Northern Ireland in
which thousands of people were killed.
While in Belfast, Biden
urged the DUP to back Rishi Sunak’s new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland and
hinted at the prospect of billions of US investment if they ended their
boycott of Stormont.
After leaving Northern Ireland he was accused of hating Britain
by senior DUP politicians.
In response to President Biden's
comments, a Downing Street spokesperson said: "the UK priority was always
protecting the Good Friday Agreement".
"We are pleased between the UK and EU we have reached an agreement
that works," they added.
During his visit in April, Biden said:
"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."
During his speech he said the 25th anniversary of the Good
Friday Agreement was a reminder of "what you can accomplish when we work
together in common cause".
In response to his comments, National
Security Council spokesman Adam Hodge told the Daily Mail: “As the President
said in Belfast, he deeply appreciates Prime Minister Sunak's leadership in
reaching an agreement with the EU on the Windsor Framework and preserving
the gains of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.”
