‘Mayo made me’ – Biden’s tribute
US PRESIDENT Joe Biden has paid tribute to his ancestral homeland in an open letter to mark Mayo Day.
Mr Biden’s greatgrandfather on his mother’s side, Edward Blewitt, hails from Ballina, Co. Mayo, and the family emigrated to the US in the 1850s.
Despite the years that have passed, Mr Biden still identifies strongly with his Irish roots. He visited Mayo in 2016, when he was vice president, and again in 2017 when he turned the sod on a new hospice outside Castlebar.
However, he has yet to announce a trip to Ireland as president of the US.
In an open letter yesterday, Mr Biden said: ‘The places we’re from are the places that shape us, climb into our hearts, and never leave us.
‘My great-grandfather, Edward Francis Blewitt, traced his roots to Ballina in Co. Mayo, from where his family boarded a ship 165 years ago, bound for the promise of America. He instilled in his family, including my mother, Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden, a deep overwhelming pride in his heritage. It is a pride I carry with me to this day and a pride that I know I share with the many people of Co. Mayo.’
Mayo Day, now in its eighth year, is a celebration of Mayo people around the world.
On this day, ‘we celebrate our beloved Co. Mayo’, Mr Biden said, adding that whether it is the ‘land of our ancestors or our newly chosen home, Co. Mayo offers its family much to take pride in’.
‘From the cliffs of Downpatrick Head in the wild Atlantic to the view of Clew Bay atop Croagh Patrick, the beauty of Co. Mayo is only rivalled by the generosity and goodness of its people – a goodness I felt when I visited a few years ago and reconnected with my Irish family,’ he said.
‘The heart and spirit from Castlebar to Westport to Crossmolina and all the towns in between make us who we are and they are a reminder that we are all connected by where we call home.’
The president also said that ‘being Irish, as my mother always told me, is about family, faith, and the conviction that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity’.
He added: ‘As we celebrate Mayo Day, may we continue to take pride in all the ways that Co. Mayo has shaped us.’
‘Generosity and goodness’