US President Joe Biden delivered a historic speech at Leinster House in Dublin this afternoon.
The 80-year-old arrived in Ireland on Tuesday evening for a monumental four-day trip, and so far he has visited Belfast, Louth and Dublin.
After meeting with the President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on Friday morning, Biden travelled to Leinster House in Dublin’s city centre to address a joint sitting of the Oireachtas.
“Tá mé seo abhaile”@JoeBiden says “it is so good to be back” in Ireland, adding that he is “at home” | Live updates: https://t.co/CaKiSvlM2F pic.twitter.com/whc5TweKom
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) April 13, 2023
During his speech, the President corrected an embarrassing gaffe he made the day before, when he accidentally referred to New Zealand’s rugby team the ‘All Blacks’ as the ‘Black and Tans’.
President Biden’s blunder occurred in The Windsor Pub in Dundalk on Wednesday.
The 80-year-old had been thanking former Irish rugby player Rob Kearney, who is a distant cousin, for a gift he received from him.
The father-of-four said: “See this tie I have, this shamrock tie? It was given to me by one of these guys right here, who’s a hell of a rugby player who beat the hell out of the Black and Tans.”
During his address at Leinster House today, Biden told the Oireachtas: “I always have a little bit of Ireland close by.”
“In the Oval Office, I have a rugby ball signed by the Irish rugby team, the ball the team played when they beat the All Blacks in Dublin in 2021,” he said to cheers from the audience.
“My cousin, one of Ireland’s greatest rugby stars Rob Kearney, brought it to DC on St. Patrick’s Day in 2022 to give me,” he added.
US President Joe Biden correcting his ‘Black and Tans’ blunder as he addressed the Oireachtas in Dublin today #BidenVisit
🎥 RTÉ News pic.twitter.com/j222NRZHyO
— Goss.ie (@goss_ie) April 13, 2023
Biden is the fourth US President to address the Oireachtas – following John F Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.
He was accompanied to the Oireachtas by Marie Heaney, the widow of his favourite poet Seamus Heaney.
Nine members of the US Congress, one senator as well as Biden’s sister Valerie and son Hunter attended the address, alongside former Irish president Mary McAleese, two past Taoiseachs Bertie Ahern and Enda Kenny, and ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland Larysa Gerasko.
He will wrap up his tour of Dublin with a state banquet dinner at Dublin Castle this evening, which will be hosted by the Taoiseach.
On Friday, Biden will travel to Ballina in Co. Mayo – the home of his great-great-great-grandfather Edward Blewitt, who emigrated to the US in 1850 and settled in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
The 80-year-old will conclude his visit with a public address outside St Muredach’s Cathedral in Ballina by the river Moy on Friday evening.
It’s understood Edward Blewitt supplied the bricks for that same church back in 1828.
Irish artists, including The Chieftains, The Coronas and The Academic, will also perform for spectators before his public address.
President Biden will then head back to the US via Dublin Airport on Friday night.
