US security staff ‘swept fairy cavern’
IRELAND’S last leprechaun whisperer Kevin Woods said the leprechauns “feel Joe is one of us” because of his Louth roots.
He said if the US Secret Service does a security sweep of the world’s first underground leprechaun cavern in Carlingford, it won’t be the first time. Mr Woods claims the men in black carried out a top secret visit on a previous trip to the ‘wee county’ where the president has ancestral roots in nearby Whitestown. He said: “There is excitement in the air, above and below ground, that he could pay us a visit next week.” Kevin said the cavern is used by 236 leprechauns to travel unseen to and from their home on nearby Sliabh Foy mountain.
He added: “Most people in the area were unaware at the time of his previous visit that as part of security arrangements the leprechaun and fairy cavern were checked out by the secret service accompanying him.”
JFK started the trend for visiting roots
PRESIDENT Biden’s trip is a reminder of the central role of Irish Americans in US political life.
Ireland has welcomed American presidents since John F Kennedy became the first to visit in 1963.
Barack Obama got a jubilant reception in 2011 when he visited the tiny hamlet of Moneygall, on the border of Offaly and Tipperary, which was home to one of his great-great-great grandfathers.
Mr Obama joked to a crowd in Dublin: “My name is Barack Obama, of the Moneygall Obamas, and I’ve come home to find the apostrophe we lost somewhere along the way.”
More than 30 million Americans - almost one in 10 - claim some Irish ancestry.
Richard Johnson, senior lecturer in US politics at Queen Mary University of London, said Irish Americans no longer form the solidly Democrat voting bloc of decades gone by.
But he said it’s still “good politics domestically for Americans to emphasize their Irish roots”.