“Tame sa bhaile” (I’m home), US President Joe Biden said in Gaelic yesterday at the start of his speech to the Irish Parliament, apologizing for trying to speak the language of our ancestors. Biden later recalled the “enduring” strength of the Ireland-US relationship, the future of “unlimited possibilities” and two countries “more united and more determined than ever to defend the values that make us strong”.
After visiting Northern Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, which ended three decades of sectarian violence, the president argued that Dublin and London should work more closely together to prevent the return of violence in the region to avoid. “Political violence should never be allowed on this island again,” said Biden, recalling that peace is “precious” and must be “nourished.” There were several Northern Irish politicians in the stands, but no representatives of the DUP unionists, who have blocked the power-sharing deal in the region.
Biden ended his speech by reiterating that it was a “great honour” to address both houses of the Irish parliament. Another Catholic president of Irish descent, John F. Kennedy, was the first to do so, 60 years ago, joking that the building previously belonged to his ancestors, the Fitzgeralds, Earls of Kildare. “I didn’t come to claim you.”
Biden’s day began with a visit to Áras an Uachtaráin, the home of his Irish counterpart, Michael D Higgins, also an octogenarian like him. There he had the opportunity to sign the book of honor – “As the Irish saying goes, your feet will take you where your heart is” -, plant an oak and ring the Peace Bell. Not once, but twice. “One more for peace,” he said. The bell was raised in 2008, on the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, with Biden and Higgins reiterating “unfailing support to preserve and extend the peace dividend”.
Then the US president met with the Taoiseach, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. Biden spoke of an “ever stronger relationship between the US and Ireland”, claiming that the values of the two countries are the same, as are their concerns, after they both spoke about the war in Ukraine. “Democracy and freedom, the things we believe in, are on the decline in much of the world,” Varadkar said. “If America and Europe didn’t work together, I don’t know what kind of world we would live in.”
Biden’s journey ends today, but he will still pass through County Mayo where he will meet more relatives – 10 of his 16 great-great-grandparents were Irish. On Wednesday he was with another side of the family in Louth. He is also expected to give a speech in Balina before returning to Washington.
Source: DN
