‘Tá mé sa bhaile’: Biden tells Houses of Oireachtas he is ‘at home’

The United Kingdom should be working closer with Ireland to support the people of Northern Ireland, US President Joe Biden has told a joint sitting of the Houses of the Oireachtas.

Mr Biden, who became the fourth president of the United States to address the Oireachtas on Thursday evening, said it was one of the greatest honours of his career to speak before the chamber and began his speech by saying “tá mé sa bhaile – I’m at home”.

Former president Mary McAleese, former Taoisigh Bertie Ahern and Enda Kenny, former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams were in attendance as was Marie Heaney, the widow of Seamus Heaney.

Mr Biden’s sister Valerie and son Hunter were also present in the chamber as were Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O’Neill, Alliance leader Naomi Long, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood and MEPs Francis Fitzgerald, Ciaran Cuffe and Maria Walsh.

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In a wide-ranging speech, Mr Biden said that the relationship between Ireland and the US was a “partnership for the ages” while he was “at the end of my career, not the beginning”.

The US president said that “peace is precious” and needs its “champions” and needs to be “nurtured”. Mr Biden said the Belfast Agreement had a “significant positive impact” across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

He noted previous discussions with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar about how Ireland and the US could work together to support the people of Northern Ireland.

“I think that the United Kingdom should be working closer with Ireland in this endeavour, political violence must never again be allowed to take hold again on this island,” he said.

Mr Biden said the United States was shaped by Ireland, and that this was a “fact”.

“The values we share remain to this day, the core of our historic partnership between our people and our Governments,” Mr Biden said.

Mr Biden said Ireland and the US were standing together to oppose Russia’s brutal aggression and support the brave people of Ukraine.

“President Kennedy said 60 years ago, ‘Ireland pursues an independent course in foreign policy, but it is not neutral between liberty and tyranny and it never will be’ – thank you for that.”

He said Ireland had committed more than €170 million in non-lethal aid to Ukraine, including vital protective gear, medical equipment, humanitarian support and aid to minimise the impacts of war on food insecurity and child malnutrition.

“You don’t forget, you have memories that go deep,” he said.

Mr Biden said that he had known Russian President Vladimir Putin for over 25 years and that Mr Putin thought and was confident “he would break Nato and the European Union”.

“The unity of western nations would fracture and fall at the moment of testing, that’s what he [Putin] thought,” Mr Biden said.

“He was wrong, he was wrong on every point and every front. We’re more united and determined than ever to defend the values that make us strong.”

Mr Biden praised the “enduring” strength of the Irish-US relationship as he promised “a future poised for unlimited shared possibilities”.

“The journeys of our ancestors expanded our horizons and literally excited our imaginations,” he said.

“They became the untiring backbone of America’s progress as a nation, even as they endured discrimination and they were denied the opportunity.”

President Biden received a standing ovation from TDs and senators and opened his address by saying “well mom, you said it would happen”. Mr Biden went on to jokingly apologise to Labour senator Rebecca Moynihan’s baby daughter Margot, who was in the chamber, for putting her through a policy speech, saying it is “as bad as what my children have been put through”.

Mr Biden said he had a “little bit of Ireland” in the Oval Office in Washington in the form of a rugby ball presented by the Irish rugby team when they beat the “All Blacks” in Chicago in 2016, correcting a comment he made on Wednesday about the team beating the “Black and Tans”.

Mr Biden also referenced an article that appeared in The Irish Times in relation to the ancestors of former US president Barack Obama.

“His grandfather was a shoemaker, like mine, sailed five weeks earlier from the same port,” he said.

“The idea they both sailed for a new life and thought their great-great-grandsons would both be president, I think, is really is a little bit of Irish malarkey.”

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Mr Biden added that talking about his Irish ancestry was “not to wax poetic about bygone days” but because the story of his family’s journey and those who left Ireland and others who stayed was “emblematic of the stories of so many Irish and American families”.

Mr Biden also noted the large number of US multinational companies based in the Republic and spoke about ensuring corporations “pay their fair share” of taxes.

US ambassador to Ireland Claire Cronin and Irish ambassador to the US Geraldine Byrne Nason were present in the chamber, while former rugby player Rob Kearney, RTÉ presenter Ryan Tubridy, relative Laurita Blewitt and her husband Joe Brolly were in the visitor’s gallery.

Mr Biden was welcomed by Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl, who said Ireland and the US enjoy a “warm, close and mutually beneficial relationship”.

Mr Ó Fearghaíl said the story of Ireland is “inextricably linked to emigration” and that in many ways Mr Biden personified that.

He said throughout Mr Biden’s political career he has been a faithful and supportive friend of Ireland.

“You have been there, to quote the well-known song, “in sunshine or in shadow,’” he said.

“On this historic occasion, your homecoming, we warmly welcome you back to your roots. From the bottom of our hearts we thank you for all you have done, and continue to do, for us here in Ireland.”

People Before Profit decided to boycott the address over objections to President Biden’s foreign policy.

The party, which is made of TDs Richard Boyd Barrett, Brid Smith, Gino Kenny and Paul Murphy said the move was due to Mr Biden’s record on Palestine, Iraq, and Nato expansion as well as the “absence of opportunity for Dáil parties to ask questions”.

[ Thursday’s Images of the Day ]