Northern Ireland

People Before Profit's Gerry Carroll calls for Joe Biden visit to be 'met with protest'

People Before Profit's Gerry Carroll. Picture by Ann McManus
People Before Profit's Gerry Carroll. Picture by Ann McManus People Before Profit's Gerry Carroll. Picture by Ann McManus

PEOPLE Before Profit has urged people to greet Joe Biden's visit to Ireland with "protest".

The far-left, all-Ireland party's Stormont representative Gerry Carroll said the US president would "celebrate peace in the north while his administration sanctions death from Jerusalem to Jeddah".

Mr Carroll called for protests against the president when he visits next month to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

The West Belfast representative condemned what he termed the "Biden administration’s imperialist foreign policy and attacks on workers’ rights".

Mr Carroll said trade unionists "have no truck with a draconian president", who he said "banned US rail workers from taking strike action".

"He will be welcomed to Ireland by political and business doyens who are united in their contempt of workers," the People Before Profit MLA said.

"Joe Biden is no friend of working-class people... his visit should be met by an opposition of workers who haven’t felt the Good Friday Agreement’s so-called peace dividend."

When asked what governments his party would engage with, the PBP MLA said: "Our preference is for dialogue with governments and organisations of the left.

"Any engagement with conservative powers would only be on the basis of opposition and to uphold the interests of working class people."

The president may also face flack from environmentalists after he approved a controversial oil drilling project in Alaska.

Persevering with the vast, multi-billion-dollar ConocoPhillips oil project, situated on the tundra of Alaska’s northern Arctic coast, is seen by many as contrary to US commitments to combat climate change.

Former US vice-president and environmentalist Al Gore last week warned that it would be “recklessly irresponsible” to allow the so-called Willow project to go ahead.