Joe show is over as Biden flies back to US
AMERICAN Vice President Joe Biden flew back to the States last night – but not before quipping: ‘The Bidens aren’t going home.’
Mr Biden, who has Irish ancestry, rounded off his six-day trip with lunch with the Taoiseach at Farmleigh House in the Phoenix Park yesterday.
He opened his goodbye speech by joking the Bidens were ‘not going home’, and said that, while ‘friend’ is a cheaply used word in diplomatic circles, he really does consider Enda Kenny to be his friend.
Mr Biden also paid tribute to Ireland, saying he had heard so much about the country while he was growing up that he wondered how much was fact and how much was fiction – but that at times during his visit it had felt like home.
During his visit, which began last Tuesday evening, Mr Biden visited various historic locations including Kilwirra Cemetery in Co. Louth – where he visited the grave of his Irish ancestors – and Newgrange in Co. Meath. He also flew to Mayo with several members of his family on a special trip to trace their ancestry. Both Mr Biden’s greatgreat-great-grandfather Edward Blewitt and great-great-grandfather Owen Finnegan fled Ireland during the Famine.
A packed six days saw Mr Biden become an honorary free man of Co. Louth and receive an honorary doctorate from Trinity College Dublin, his first degree of that kind from a university outside the US.
He also had time to take aim at US presidential hopeful Donald Trump when he slammed ‘reactionary politicians’ who blame immigrants for a country’s ills.
He addressed Brexit in the same speech on Friday, urging people in the North not to let the current economic uncertainty interfere with the peace process.
Mr Biden has previously made private visits to Ireland, but always said he wanted to visit in his official capacity as US Vice President before his term in office ends.