President Joe Biden rounded off his visit to Ireland with a rousing speech celebrating his Irish heritage to a boisterous crowd outside a cathedral in western Ireland with deep family ties.
As he did on his four-day trip here, Biden weaved remarks about hard work and the spirit of immigrants with recitations about his ancestors leaving Ireland in times of scarcity to start a new life in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
He recalled how an ancestor, Edward Blewitt, once sold 27,000 bricks to support St. Muredach’s Cathedral in County Mayo, where Biden gave a speech to tens of thousands of cheering Irish fans.
“In 1828 he was paid 21 pounds and 12 shillings to help deliver bricks for this cathedral,” Biden said of his great-great-great-grandfather.
“I doubt he ever imagined his great-great-grandson returning as president of the United States of America 200 years later. Is not that great?’ he said, to cheers.
President Joe Biden addressed a crowd of thousands on the last day of his trip to Ireland outside St. Muredach’s Cathedral in Ballina, Ireland
Organizers say some 20,000 people were packed into the area in front of the cathedral and across the River Moy. Calling himself a “son of Ballina,” the city where he spoke and where his distant ancestors built their lives, Biden walked out to the music of the Dropkick Murhpys, an American Celtic punk band.
In a speech with no central organizing theme but plenty of Biden bromide, the president ran through the greatest hits from his trip, added familiar phrases from the power of “possibilities” and heralded the “fierce pride in our Irish heritage” of many Americans in. who claim to be of Irish descent.
He peppers his remarks with nostalgic references, including one to the country’s first Catholic president, John F. Kennedy, who made his own trip to Ireland 60 years ago.
And he called JFK’s brother, Robert F. Kennedy “one” of my political heroes.’
“We Irish are the only people who are really nostalgic about the future,” Biden said, citing one of his favorite references.
“We have always, always carried hope in our hearts,” Biden said, after telling the story of relatives who left Ireland in times of hunger in hopes of making a better life abroad.
Biden spoke about the ties between Ireland and the US, telling family stories that are familiar to some American audiences
Though praised by thousands in Ireland, the event comes as Biden heads toward a presidential re-election campaign
Organizers said 20,000 people came to watch Biden in Ballina, where he has family ties
Spotlights lit up the sky during the speech, where Biden recalled JFK’s own trip as president to Ireland
It came at the end of a journey that Biden described as a deeply personal endeavor
Biden brought along his son Hunter, who is the subject of extensive House Republican investigations into his overseas business practices, and sister Valerie Biden Owns, a key adviser on his many campaigns.
He spoke of afierce pride in our Irish heritage” and “the values that unite us,” repeatedly drawing links between Irish and Americans, on a trip that forced the White House to question whether he was anti-British.
The public feasted on Biden’s recipe for forward-looking nostalgia.
“I’m an emotional wreck,” said Mags Downey, CEO of Ballina Chamber of Commerce.
“The rain and my tears mix.”
Biden also flew over the crowd in Marine One before it started, having previously surprised towns on the other side of the island with his motorcade and “the beast.”
Biden used the cathedral as a metaphor for hard work and aspiration, themes he rode to the White House by conquering the battlefields of the rust belt.
“It speaks to the sweat of the workers who lifted the spire brick by brick to the sky, just as they did in communities across my country,” he said.
He got a chance to hold one of those historic stones earlier Friday. “They’re damn heavy – they’re heavy,” he said, moderating his language outside the church on a day when he also visited Knock Shrine.
The cathedral was lit up to the tip of the spire, sending shards of light into the dark night.
And Biden started with the kind of roar reserved for rock stars.
During an evening intended for pageantry, Biden made sure to touch briefly on “Russia’s ruthless war of aggression” against Ukraine, and congratulated Ireland for taking in thousands of refugees – many of them sheltering in the country’s hotels.
“We must renew our commitment to our values that our ancestors fought for,” Biden said.
“Freedom, democracy: it must always be defended,” he said.
It brought a carnival-like end to a four-day visit that saw Biden spend as much time meeting relatives and connecting with his Irish heritage as he did official meetings.
Biden spoke to Irish-American ties during his speech
On Friday, he spent the day in County Mayo, where the Blewitt branch of his mother’s family once lived.
He was given a stone from his ancestors’ house in Ballina, a short walk from the cathedral.
He previously visited Knock Shrine, a sacred pilgrimage site for Catholics from around the world.
It had a more personal connection for Biden.
“We also met a former military chaplain, Father O’Grady, out of the blue, who gave my son final rituals at Walter Reed Medical Center,” the president said.
“It was incredible to see him, it seemed like a sign.”
Earlier, his host, Father Richard Gibbons, described how Biden burst into sobs during the meeting.
“He cried, it really touched him and then we said a prayer, we said a tenner of the rosary for his family,” he told the BBC.
“He lit a candle and then took a moment or two of himself for prayer.”
