Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:-
“In swimming against the tide of hysteria about Joe Biden’s visit, let me be clear that this President is an avowed nationalist partisan who in his past, when the IRA’s murder campaign was in full swing, joined with other meddling US politicians to seek to prevent extradition of wanted IRA terrorists (eg IRA escapee Joe Doherty), who more recently (Feb 2022) likened the struggle of the Palestinian people to Britain’s treatment of Irish Catholics for over 400 years, and who has championed the Union-dismantling Protocol.
“Little wonder he wants to celebrate the terrorism-rewarding Belfast Agreement and try further pressure on unionists to operate the Protocol’s dismantling of the Union and partitioning of the United Kingdom.
“I find nothing to celebrate in the mass release of murderers, the ushering of terrorists into government and the imposition of an unworkable system at Stormont – all the handiwork of the Belfast Agreement. But from the perspective of an avid all-Irelander like Biden a milestone of achievement.”