Hunter Biden joins father in state visit to Ireland

First son Hunter Biden joined his father, President Joe Biden, on a state trip to Ireland that will mark the anniversary of a historic peace agreement between Republican separatists and British loyalists in the island's northern polity.

The Good Friday Agreement, signed in 1998, came into effect after the people of Northern Ireland, a constituent nation of the United Kingdom, approved its terms in a referendum. It effectively ended a period of intense ethno-nationalist turmoil in the region known as The Troubles.

The Biden family is Irish Catholic, a point of pride for the president, and their appearance in the region will mark the 25th anniversary of the peace accord. The Bidens intend to visit both Northern Ireland and the Republic in the island's southern portion, according to the Washington Times.

The family is expected to visit the birthplace of the president's great-grandfather, James Finnegan, one of the countless Irish emigres who relocated to the United States amid the potato famine of the mid-19th century.

The younger Biden's participation in a state visit is likely to draw scrutiny from the president's conservative critics, who have focused on the first son's allegedly pivotal role in illicit international business deals on behalf of the Biden family and his alleged complicity in corrupt business practices.

Northern Ireland is comprised of six of the nine historical counties of Ulster, while the Republic governs the remaining 26 of the island's counties. The Irish Free State became a dominion within the British Commonwealth in 1922 and was later officially declared a republic in 1949.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.