After receiving a standing ovation from members of Ireland’s parliament, President Joe Biden — a leader with deep Irish roots and pride in his ancestral heritage — looked toward the sky and addressed his late mother, Catherine Eugenia “Jean” Finnegan Biden.
“Well mom,” Biden said to laughter from the assembled lawmakers and distinguished guests. “You said it would happen.”
In the president’s speech to the Houses of the Oireachtas, he hailed the deep ties between the United States and Ireland, as well as his family’s connection to the country. Throughout his trip this week, Biden has invoked his family’s Irish roots, a descendant of the Finnegans of County Louth and the Blewitts of County Mayo.
Biden recalled traveling to County Louth on Wednesday, and told the lawmakers that he was set to visit County Mayo on Friday, where he’ll “remember the history and hope and the heartbreak my Blewitt ancestors must have felt leaving their beloved homeland to begin to new lives in America."
“I say all this not to wax poetic about bygone days, but because of the story of my family's journey and those who left those who stayed is emblematic of the stories of so many Irish and American families, not just Irish-American families,” Biden said.
“These stories are the very heart of what binds Ireland and America together,” the president continued. “They speak to a history defined by our dreams, they speak to a present written by our shared responsibility, and they speak to a future poised for unlimited shared possibilities.”
“Like so many countries around the world, though perhaps more than most, the United States was shaped by Ireland,” he added. “And the values we share remain to this day the core of the historic partnership between our people and our governments.”
“As nations, we have known hardship and division, but we have also found solace and sympathy in one and other,” Biden said.
Biden’s speech followed meetings with leaders earlier in the day, including Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s prime minister, and Irish President Michael D. Higgins. In his meeting with the Taoiseach, Biden hailed the country’s commitment to aiding Ukrainian refugees.
“I think our values are the same, I think our concerns are the same,” Biden said to Varadkar, adding: “I’m really looking forward to continuing to work with you.”
In meeting with Higgins, Biden signed a guest book — “As the Irish saying goes, your feet will bring you where your heart is,” the president wrote. “It’s an honor to return.” — before planting a tree and ringing the ceremonial Peace Bell, which was unveiled in 2008 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday accord, a document that ended decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland.
“I’m learning a lot,” Biden said earlier Thursday, before lamenting: “I know it sounds silly, but there’s many Irish-Americans, like my relatives, who’ve never come back here.”
In his speech to lawmakers later in the day, Biden hailed the milestone of 25 years since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement saying that “peace is precious” and urging the United Kingdom to work closer with Northern Ireland.
"Political violence must never again be allowed to take hold on this island,” Biden said to applause.
Biden also praised the country’s support for Ukraine — Ireland has welcomed nearly 80,000 Ukrainian refugees — saying that “Ireland remembers the terrible cost of war.”
“You’ve built an international credibility as peacekeepers, stepping up continuously to serve in the U.N. peacekeeping missions since Ireland first development since [the] first deployment in 1958,” the president said. “Because Ireland remembers what it means to have to flee home, leaving everything behind to begin again on foreign shores.”
The president expressed optimism for a bright future ahead, for the U.S. and Ireland saying that “as we celebrate the enduring partnership between our nations, our shared past, our present, let’s set our eyes squarely on the future.”
Biden concluded his remarks by quoting his favorite Irish poet, Seamus Heaney — as the late Nobel laureate’s widow, Marie Heaney, looked on — saying that both nations must strive to “make hope and history rhyme.”
“I’ve never been more optimistic about the future every day,” Biden continued. “I’m at the end of my career, not the beginning. The only thing I bring to this career at my age — as you can see how old I am — is a little bit of wisdom.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.