Biden visit – latest: US president wraps up Ireland tour after tearful meeting with priest

Father Frank O’Grady said he had not seen Joe Biden since the death of his son Beau eight years ago.

He told RTE: “I was very surprised when I got a phone call to say the president wanted to see me.

“It was a delightful 10 minutes with him. I hadn’t seen him really in eight years since Beau died. His son Hunter was there too, so we had a real reunion.

“He certainly misses his son. He has been grieving a lot, but I think the grief is kind of going down a bit. We talked a little bit about how grief can take several years.”

Fr O’Grady added: “He certainly was very impressed with Knock.

“As a man of great faith, it really hit home very hard to him about his son’s passing when he comes to Knock, because we talk about mysteries of life and death in a place like Knock, all the time here.

“He is a man of great faith, and it is just a coincidence that I happened to meet him.”

Fine Gael TD and former Mayo footballer Alan Dillon said the gathering in Ballina echoed the values that Joe Biden had espoused during his visit.

“You can feel the energy around the town as the build-up continues and it’s amazing to see so many young people really, really excited about the presidential visit, and he is coming back to where he feels his roots are firmly placed and there is a huge sense of pride here today,” he said.

“I think if you listen to Joe Biden the last number of days, he talks about the values around respect, dignity, courage, and what more have we here tonight than people who actually want to acknowledge one of their sons coming back and give Ballina and Mayo that homecoming that he deserves.”

US President Joe Biden has been presented with a brick from his family’s ancestral home in Co Mayo.

It came as the president visited North Mayo Heritage and Genealogical Centre with his son Hunter Biden and sister Valerie Biden Owens.

He met Ernie Caffrey and his daughter Miriam, whose family owns a store that is located at the site of the former Blewitt family home in Ballina.

He presented the president with a brick from the house enclosed in a case.

Mr Biden responded: “It’s a 200-year-old brick”, as he read an inscription on the case, adding: “That’s incredible”.

He went on for a private meeting with some of his cousins.

Simon Coveney, Ireland’s minister for enterprise, trade and employment, said it was a “great day for Ballina, great day for the west of Ireland”, as he arrived for President Biden’s speech.

Member of the European Parliament Maria Walsh said the visit of Joe Biden was a “phenomenal moment” for Ireland.

Ms Walsh was born in America and raised in Mayo.

“In 1970 when First Lady Nixon, Pat Nixon, visited it was Robeen in south Mayo again that she visited and my dad was sitting on a high wall watching this big fancy car come down a very small road in Robeen.

“It was the first time we’d seen anyone wearing sunglasses.

“So, a really special moment from an Irish American heritage standpoint.”

Heavy rain is failing to dampen the mood among thousands of people gathered in Ballina ahead of President Joe Biden’s speech.

At one point a double rainbow formed in the sky above the cathedral as The Coronas played for the expectant crowd.

People wearing ponchos waved US and Irish flags as the music played.

There were cheers from the crowd as former president of Ireland Mary Robinson took to the stage in a drizzly Ballina, ahead of President Joe Biden’s speech.

“You have two presidents who love Ballina, what else can you ask for?” she told the crowd to whoops.

Famous Irish traditional music group The Chieftains have taken to the stage before Joe Biden’s address in Co Mayo, in what organisers said would be a final reunion.

It comes after co-founder Paddy Moloney died in 2021.

Three-and-a-half hours after gates opened, people are still arriving for the US president’s speech.

The presidential motorcade has pulled up to St Muredach’s Cathedral in Ballina for Joe Biden’s address.

A member of the Irish band The Chieftains said: “It’s time for the last hurrah!”

Crowds of thousands are waiting outside the cathedral in Ballina to see Mr Biden speak after he arrived by helicopter.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar thanked the president for his friendship and helping to bring peace.

After Mr Biden’s ancestors had left Ireland, the country had not been in charge of its own affairs, he said.

“Thank you, for your lifelong commitment to peace on our island, your friendship, for the leadership you have shown protecting all that has been achieved, and for everything you are doing to help build a better future here, in America and in our world.

“In this place, history and hope are never too far apart.”

Although tragedy may shape us, it never defines us, he said.

Mr Biden was the most Irish of all US presidents, he added.

“In your heart, you never left.”

The crowds of thousands along the riverfront of Ballina cheered and waved frantically as Joe Biden took to the stage, waving back.

Thanking the Chieftains who played, he said he was a long-time fan of the band.

There were cheers in the crowd for Joe Biden’s first mention of his Blewitt family connections in Co Mayo.

“It feels like coming home, it really does,” he said.

He waved and smiled in response to the rapturous welcome, telling the huge crowd the town was home to Ireland’s first female president (Mary Robinson), one of the youngest mayors, and maybe to Ireland’s first female astronaut, Norah Patten.