Biden: 'It feels like I'm coming home'

‘It feels like I’m coming home’: President Biden tours Louth’s  Carlingford Castle with son Hunter – and gazes out to where his great-great grandfather set sail for the US in 1849

• Biden got a rousing reception when he arrived in Co. Louth on Wednesday
• ‘It feels wonderful. Feels like I’m coming home,’ he told reporters
• He toured Carlingford Castle and was then due to visit nearby Dundalk 

President Joe Biden was treated like the returning prodigal cousin when he arrived in Co. Louth on the second stop of his visit to Ireland.

Locals cheered as his motorcade turned into the tiny town of Carlingford, near where his great-great grandfather once lived.

‘It feels wonderful,’ he told reporters during a tour of Carlingford Castle. ‘Feels like I’m coming home.’

In fact as he looked out across Carlingford Lough he was looking at the route Owen Finnegan would have taken when he boarded the Brothers ship leaving Ireland for good in April 1849.

Like so many other Irish families, the Finnegans decided to try their luck in the United States, escaping the Great Famine. 

US President Joe Biden (L) speaks with Ireland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin (R) during a visit of Carlingford Castle. From here he could see where his ancestors sailed away

Biden’s maternal line emigrated from Ireland during the Great Famine. The Blewitts left Co. Mayo and settled in Scranton, PA, while the Finnegans left Co. Louth and came to New York

After spending the first half of the day in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Biden flew to Dublin, the capital of the Republic of Ireland.

From there he drove north to Carlingford and a chance to meet cousins who still live in the area and hear about his Irish family.

He was met by Ireland’s deputy premier Micheal Martin and they were joined by Rob Kearney, a cousin who played international rugby for Ireland.

Biden was behind schedule by the time he arrived. His entourage was forced to travel by road rather than air because of bad weather, and abandoned plans to visit the family cemetery.

The president, wearing a blue cap, shrugged off the rain. 

‘It’s fine, it’s Ireland,’ he said.

The Carlingford Pipe Band, a four-piece bagpipe and drum ensemble, arranged to play a special composition, ‘A Biden Return,’ for the visit.

It is the third time Biden has visited the area, coming first in 2016 as vice president. 

Biden gazes out into Carlingford Lough which runs into the Irish Sea

‘It feels wonderful,’ Biden told reporters during a tour of Carlingford Castle with Martin. ‘Feels like I’m coming home.’ Louth was home to his great-great granfather before he set sail

Biden received a warm welcome in Co. Louth, the home of his Finnegan ancestors

After touring the castle he want to Dundalk, where he was cheered when he emerged from the Beast for a walkabout in the town center on Wednesday evening

The tumbledown house where James Finnegan, Biden’s great grandfather, was born in 1940 is still standing, and it is currently being renovated by new owners.

In all the president’s trip will last four days, mixing official business with a chance to explore his Irish roots. 

So in Belfast he delivered a speech marking the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Belfast Agreement, before getting on to the family business later in the day. 

He has been accompanied on the trip by his son Hunter and sister Valerie, attracting questions about who is paying for their travel.

On Thursday he will deliver a speech to the Irish parliament, plant a tree and ring a ‘peace bell.’

The motorcade leaves Carlingfor for the town of Dundalk. Crowds lined the route

Earlier Biden delivered a speech at Ulster University and said he hoped that Northern Ireland’s deadlocked political parties would soon return to a powersharing government

From left, U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom Jane Hartley, Valerie Biden Owens, Hunter Biden and U.S. Special Envoy for Northern Ireland Joe Kennedy III listen to the speech

And then on Friday it is back to family matters. He will travel west to Co. Mayo, to learn more about another branch of his family, the Blewitts, who left Ireland at about the same time as the Finnegans. 

Waiting to see Biden later at a pub in Dundalk was Andrea McKevitt, a local councilor and a distant cousin. 

She said Louth was an important place to visit for more reasons than family. 

‘Part of the reason for Biden’s trip is to celebrate 25 years of the Good Friday Agreement, and we here are in a border County, right.

‘Many people have lived through and know what the Troubles are all about here,’ she said referring to the decades of violence that blighted Ireland, but largely ended with the peace deal.

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