Newsman: President Joe Biden on Friday pronounced Ireland not just part of his family history but part of his soul as he wrapped up a trip. Biden drew a crowd that was more than double the size of the town’s population — some drove from hours away and waited nearly all day in the rain and cold for a chance to see him.
Roughly 27,000 people gathered at the foot of St. Muredach’s Cathedral, constructed in part with bricks made by Biden’s great-great-great grandfather. “Over the years, stories of this place have become part of my soul,” Biden told the massive crowd, associating himself with those in the audience by speaking of “we Irish” and talking of a “part of my family lore.”
He was greeted by fans at every turn. The streets of Ballina teemed with people holding Irish and U.S. flags, lining up for blocks and blocks along the narrow streets. While Biden toured a Catholic shrine earlier in the day and was briefed on his ancestors at a heritage center, musicians and dancers entertained the massive crowd for hours. A cheer burst from the crowd as his helicopter arrived overhead.
“Being here does feel, it feels like coming home,” Biden said. “It really does.”
Dozens of people stood behind him on risers with flags, spotlights swept across the night sky and huge video screens beamed his image over a river where throngs were watching. U2′s “Beautiful Day” played as the president ended his 20-minute speech.
Addressing Irish Parliament, Biden touts ties that bind
Biden’s Ireland trip was heady with nostalgia, fellowship, religion and poetry — the grand sweeping hills and cozy towns fitting just such a mood.
Biden referenced many a poet on his trip, but one in particular was particularly meaningful to him on Friday — that of his great grandfather Edward Francis Blewitt, who grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, after the Blewitts arrived in the U.S.
“From the fairest land, except my own,” Biden read. “Neath sun, star, and moon, the citadel of liberty, my mother’s land, aroon.”
Earlier in his four-day trip, Biden met in Northern Ireland with leaders marking the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday agreement that ended sectarian violence. In Ireland, he addressed the Irish parliament, watched Gaelic sports with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, and saw the widow of his favorite poet, Seamus Heaney. He also coincidentally met the priest who gave last rites to his late son, Beau. And he was loaded down with gifts, including a signed poetry book and a brick from his ancestral home.
The Irish response to Biden, though, was overwhelmingly positive for “Cousin Joe,” as many have called him. On his first day, he toured County Louth, pausing at Carlingford Castle, which could well have been the last Irish landmark that Owen Finnegan, his maternal great-great-grandfather, saw before sailing for New York in 1849. As the U.S. president gazed at the sea, thousands cheered to him from the streets below, mixing with the sound of bagpipes that wafted from the green hills.
“I don’t know why the hell my ancestors left here,” Biden said. “It’s beautiful.”
The small left-wing party People Before Profit said it would boycott Biden’s speech to parliament because of opposition to U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and elsewhere.
