than a year, because the democratic unionist party, the biggest party which wants to keep northern ireland in the uk, is vetoing the formation of the power sharing coalition because of its concerns over brexit trade barriers with the rest of the uk. setting that aside, when you look back at the last 25 years, the change in northern ireland has been remarkable. the level of political balance has dramatically reduced to the extent that it is relatively rare now, so coming after a bitter sectarian conflict that lasted three decades, and cost the lives of three and half thousand people, it has been a very successful, peace process, most would say. the president biden is likely to again reflect on that, the fact that it was a peace process that benefits the whole island of ireland. most of ireland in northern ireland but the republic was touched by the conflict as well. so we can expect him to talk about that. with regard to the major conflict in the world today, ukraine, that has
very valuable. chris page, our irish corresmnd of very valuable. chris page, our irish correspond of the very valuable. chris page, our irish correspond of the coming - very valuable. chris page, our irish correspond of the coming of- very valuable. chris page, our irish l correspond of the coming of expertly taking us through events this afternoon. and the characters and personalities, the people, the history that is there. because as you have been saying, this is a historic speech. it is not often that a us president addresses the irish parliament and that is exactly what we are reading, presidentjoe biden to do. you should know that you can carry on watching on bbc news, you can also keep up with all of the latest on the bbc news website. i will leave chris for the moment and bringing website. i will leave chris for the momentand bringing in website. i will leave chris for the moment and bringing in emma virgie, just waiting for these pictures to enter the chamber. give us a pers