On Thursday, U.S. President Joe Biden, a patriotic Irish-American, ended his three-day trip to Ireland with an address to parliament and a dinner at Dublin Castle, shifting his focus from Northern Irish peace to honoring his roots.
It feels great. Biden told reporters on Wednesday afternoon that seeing Carlingford Castle, near his family’s Irish birthplace, was like going home.
On Thursday evening, Biden will be honored at a dinner at St. Patrick’s Hall in Dublin Castle, joining Queen Elizabeth II and John F. Kennedy.
He will meet with Ireland’s president and prime minister in the afternoon and address a joint session of the Irish parliament, joining Kennedy, Reagan, and Clinton.
Biden met with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Belfast on Wednesday morning and pushed Northern Irish leaders to restore their power-sharing government with the promise of considerable U.S. investment.
Later, he took a lighter excursion to Louth, midway between Dublin and Belfast, the hometown his great-great-grandfather Owen Finnegan, a shoemaker who moved to the U.S. in 1849.
Biden told rain-soaked Dundalk locals their town was lovely. “I don’t know why the hell my ancestors left here,” he joked.
On Friday, he will see relatives from his great-great-great-grandfather Edward Blewitt’s side in Mayo and give a public speech to conclude his journey.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will join Biden in Dublin before heading to Vietnam and Japan.
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