Joe Biden: US president expected to visit only one NI venue

US President Biden looks set to attend just one event during his visit to Northern Ireland, the BBC understands.

He had been invited to Stormont with the possibility of addressing its members to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

But while no official details have been released, the BBC understands it will involve just one engagement at Ulster University.

President Biden is due to open its new £350m campus in Belfast.

The US president will also address business and civic leaders and may hold talks with the political parties on 12 April.

He is expected to leave Northern Ireland by early afternoon and travel to the Republic of Ireland for the remainder of his stay.

Ulster Unionist assembly member Mike Nesbitt said it was disappointing that President Biden would not be visiting Stormont, but that "one consequence of not having Stormont up and running is that the President of the US is not prepared to visit that estate".

He said it would be a subdued trip, a stark contrast to the first trip undertaken by former US President Bill Clinton to Northern Ireland in 1995 during the peace process.

Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) MP Claire Hanna said she did not think it was a "snub" by the White House, and that scaling back the trip was understandable in the current political climate.

Sinn Féin' deputy leader Michelle O'Neill said she looked forward to welcoming President Biden to Belfast, adding that the US was a "strong partner for peace, stability and economic progress".

"There's an onus on governments, parties and not least the DUP to get power-sharing going," she added.

The BBC also understands that US special envoy Joe Kennedy III will accompany President Biden on his visit to Belfast next week.

It will be his first trip to Northern Ireland since taking up the post of special envoy in December.

It is understood Mr Kennedy will stay on in Northern Ireland for several days after President Biden travels to the Republic for a series of meetings.

He is also expected to visit the north west during his stay.

In his role as special envoy Mr Kennedy has been given an economic brief to attract US investment to Northern Ireland.

It was billed and timed as a Presidential visit to mark and celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

But it may not feel like that when the President Biden's cavalcade rolls out of Northern Ireland on Wednesday afternoon.

As it now appears the Northern Ireland leg of the visit will involve just one event which will last a matter of hours.

A visit to Stormont has been ruled out and a visit to Queen's University appears to have slipped off the agenda.

But should we be surprised?

The Good Friday Agreement may be 25 years old but with no Stormont or power sharing Executive the optics are not good.

The White House may have opted to focus more on the optics in the Republic as President Biden tours his ancestral roots in Louth and Mayo.

Speaking to BBC NI in Washington last month Mr Kennedy said the presidential visit would help "galvanise momentum" when it comes to attracting new investment.

He is the grandson of the murdered US senator Robert F Kennedy and grand nephew of President John F Kennedy.

He said he had "grown up in a family which is well known and I have dealt with that all my life".

"There are incredible benefits which come with that but there are challenges which come with that too," Mr Kennedy told BBC News NI.

"All I can ask anybody is - judge me on my actions and not on what you heard.

"But take me on my word on what I have been asked to do by the president of the United States, to ensure opportunities and growth are felt by every community across Northern Ireland."