On Thursday, U.S. President Joe Biden, a patriotic Irish-American, met Ireland’s president and prime minister before addressing parliament and dining at Dublin Castle.
On Wednesday, Biden celebrated his ancestry from peace in Northern Ireland and encouraged political leaders to restore their power-sharing government with the prospect of considerable U.S. investment.
Later, he took a lighter journey to Louth, where his great-great-grandfather Owen Finnegan came to the U.S. in 1849. He will visit his extended family in County Mayo on Friday.
“It feels great,” Biden said after meeting Irish President Michael D. Higgins.
“I know it sounds silly, but there are so many Irish Americans, like my relatives who got to America in 1844, ’45, ’46, they’ve never been back here.”
While at fellow octogenarian Higgins’ “incredible” home, Biden joked that he didn’t want to return to Washington. Higgins hosted Biden in Aras and Uachtarain in Dublin’s Phoenix Park in 2016 and 2017.
Biden signed the visitors’ book, quoting the Irish proverb “your feet will bring you where your heart is” and that it was an honor to return to his ancestors’ home to commemorate Ireland’s and U.S. ties.
Biden planted an oak tree in the presidential garden and was scheduled to watch a Gaelic sports performance after visiting Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, providing pictures for his 2024 re-election campaign.
Biden, accompanied by his son Hunter, sister Valerie, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, will be the guest of honor at a banquet at St. Patrick’s Hall in Dublin Castle on Thursday evening. Queen Elizabeth II and John F. Kennedy were previously honored.
After Kennedy in 1963, Reagan in 1984, and Clinton in 1995, he addressed the Irish parliament in the afternoon.
He visits Edward Blewitt’s folks in County Mayo on Friday. Then, he’ll finish his journey by visiting Knock’s Catholic shrine and speaking in Ballina.
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