President’s Irish visit
‘ If it is at all possible I’ll be doing that, I guarantee you that’.”
Speaking in Carlingford, Co Louth, yesterday, Mr Thornton also said Mr Biden asked him what the reaction to the election ( campaign) was.
He added: “I said it is very good and as far as everyone around here is concerned, you are home and dry.”
Mr Thornton – along with other distant cousins of Mr Biden – took part in the outdoor celebration in the village.
There were flags waved and the Carlingford Pipe Band played a specially- composed tune Our Local Joe.
As vice- president in 2016 Biden visited the Cooley Peninsula and met some of his cousins. His greatgrandfather James Finnegan and wife Catherine lived in Cooley before they emigrated to America in the 1850s and the Irish For Biden campaign was launched in Louth in October.
Among those delighted with his win yesterday was distant cousin John Owen
Finnegan. He said: “We are very honoured here in this area to have him as our man, he is one of our own now.
“We met him in 2016 in Finnegan’s pub, we had our photos taken with him and wished him the best of luck then and we still wish him the best of luck and good health and we wish him back here as soon as possible.”
Mr Thornton said he spoke for approximately 20 minutes to the President- elect and told him: “We are going to hold you to your word that if you ever became President, that two years into your office, you would come back and visit us.
“He said, ‘ If it is at all possible I’ll be doing that, I guarantee you that’.”
Chair of the Dundalk Municipal District Council Cllr Emma Coffey, who launched the Irish For Biden campaign, yesterday said in Carlingford that Mr Biden is, “the first true Irish- American President since John F Kennedy and he is one of our own”.
She added: “I really think it is something to be celebrated in Cooley, in Louth and in Ireland because he also has connections to Ballina in the West so really his reach is all- island.
“On that issue, we are sitting here in the beautiful Carlingford area, we are overlooking Carlingford Lough, we are seeing our neighbours in Warrenpoint, Co Down.
“I think Joe is going be a great friend for Ireland and a great friend post- Brexit.”
Louth Senator Erin Mcgreehan added: “After a really gruelling election, through a global pandemic and against the most unorthodox opposition of Donald Trump, I am so relieved that our local man is now going to be in the Oval Office.
“It is brilliant to see how much Biden identifies as Irish. He is as Irish an American President as we could possibly ever have”.