‘ Mood is mighty’ as Joe’s Irish cousins ready to celebrate
JOE Biden’s Irish cousins were preparing to pop the Champagne last night as he looked set to oust Donald Trump as US President.
The Blewitt family were ready to celebrate in his ancestral home of Ballina, Co Mayo, as he inched closer to becoming the 46th US President.
Cousin Joe, daughters Emily, nine, and seven- year- old Lauren were rooting for Biden all week, along with most of the locals.
Joe, a plumber, said: “The mood is mighty. We’re confident, it’s dragging on three or four days. If he wins Pennsylvania it’s a done deal. It’d be great to get it done. I was working today, you have to get on with it.”
Meanwhile, local sisters Aileen and Mary Horkan were in jovial mood.
Mary proudly donned a special Biden T- shirt yesterday that relatives had sent over from the US.
UNBELIEVABLE
She met the 77- year- old when he visited Ballina in 2017 and she recalled it “took him five hours to walk up the street and he shook hands with everyone, kissed babies and hugged women”.
She added: “I said to Joe Biden, ‘ Can I get a picture with you’ and he said, ‘ Now hold on a second’ and he took out his aviator sunglasses and put them on for the picture.
“Then the Secret Service guys were behind him and they said, ‘ Ma’am, please step up on the sidewalk’. It was like being in a movie.”
The two sisters say the town will go wild – Covid permitting – if and when Biden returns to Ballina as president.
Aileen, who was born on Garden Street – the same road as Biden’s ancestors – said: “The 2017 visit was unbelievable and if it happens again... it’s massive.
“I’m a teacher and Ballina is the birthplace of Mary Robinson, Ireland’s first female President, and now it’s the ancestral home of Joe Biden, the 46th President of the United States.
“It cannot be any more momentous than that. It’s huge.”
Aileen, also a genealogist, added: “Ballina has huge links with Scranton [ Joe Biden’s home town in Pennsylvania] – obviously we’re twinned with Scranton.
“The reason being that an awful lot of Ballina people emigrated and the forward place they were going to was Scranton.” Aileen said a few families went and others followed.
She added: “The shipping companies, when you’d be buying your ticket and you got it they were literally funnelling them towards Scranton so they ended up there.
People started finding the links over 20 years ago.
“The mayors of Ballina used to go over to the St Patrick’s Day parade in Scranton and the Scranton people would come here so the links are there for a long time. It’s brilliant.”