Joe Biden declared that Ireland and the US have a “partnership for the ages” in a highly personal address to the Irish parliament. The US president celebrated his Irish heritage and made a passionate defence of democracy in a speech to a joint sitting of the Oireachtas – both houses of parliament – in Dublin on Thursday evening.
“Tá mé seo abhaile,” Biden told the chamber in Irish. “I’m at home.” He added: “I just wish I could stay longer.”
In a wide-ranging address, the political highlight of his four-day visit to the island of Ireland, the president lauded American and Irish “revolutionary spirit” and cast the two nations as allies in a battle for shared values.
“As we meet these struggles they cast a shadow on our world,” he said. “The struggle between the rights of many and desires of few, between liberty and oppression, and, I know I get criticised for saying this around the world, between democracy and autocracy.”
The US was “shaped by Ireland”, which had been a historical partner, he said. “As nations we’ve known hardship and division, but we have also found solace in each other.”
In what some may view as a tacit rebuke to Downing Street he said the UK “should be working closer” with the Irish government to support Northern Ireland, where power-sharing had collapsed last year. The reference jarred with other statements supportive of Rishi Sunak’s post-Brexit Windsor framework and efforts to revive the Stormont parliament.
Biden said America and Ireland embodied “possibilities” in a speech that at times appeared to reflect campaign-style rhetoric. He is expected soon to confirm another run for the White House, however the 80-year-old also acknowledged his age. “I’m at the end of my career. Not the beginning.”
Biden assailed Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, and his invasion of Ukraine, and said the climate crisis was the biggest threat to the world, adding: “We don’t have much time. And that’s a fact.”
He cited Irish poets and related stories of his ancestors’ emigration from Ireland. He also said he treasured a ball the Irish rugby team used to beat the All Blacks, correcting an earlier gaffe that confused New Zealand’s team with the Black and Tans.
Biden was following in the footsteps of previous US presidents who had spoken to the Irish parliament, namely John F Kennedy in 1963, Ronald Reagan in 1984, and Clinton in 1995. Biden’s son Hunter and sister Valerie watched from the gallery with dignitaries including the former president of Ireland Mary McAleese, Sinn Fein’s former leader Gerry Adams, and ambassadors.
Seán Ó Fearghaíl, speaker of the Dáil, the lower chamber, gave an effusive welcome, saying Biden personified Ireland’s story of emigration. “President Biden, today you are amongst friends because you are one of us. 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.”
The comments reflected a widespread mood of pride, inside and outside the government, at Biden’s political and personal pilgrimage to Ireland. The government and opposition gave Biden standing ovations.
A critical note came from the small left-wing party People Before Profit, which boycotted the event in protest at US “warmongering” and support for Israel.
Since the president crossed the border from Northern Ireland on Wednesday a theme of homecoming has pervaded the trip. On Wednesday evening Biden visited the Cooley peninsula in County Louth, where his great-grandfather James Finnegan was born. He visited the 12th-century Carlingford Castle and received a rapturous response in Dundalk, where people braved wind and rain to line the streets and wave US flags.
Biden began Thursday with a visit to the Irish president, Michael D Higgins. Biden said the most Irish of words used in his family was dignity. There was no mention of punctuality – he arrived an hour late, a delay which lengthened and spilled into other engagements.
He cited an Irish proverb – “Your feet will bring you to where your heart is” – and rang a ceremonial peace bell that was erected in 2008 to mark the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement.
Echoing comments made in Belfast, he urged Northern Ireland’s leaders to restore power-sharing, without ascribing blame or overtly pressuring the Democratic Unionist party. “I hope that the government begins to function as it used to in terms of functioning as a representative body in the north,” Biden told reporters. “I think that’s necessary and that’s for you all to decide, not for me to decide.”
The taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, rejected unionist claims that the president was anti-British and said he valued close ties with the UK. “President Biden and his administration is committed to that special relationship. That goes back to their own history and also the fact that they fought two world wars side by side.”
After the parliament speech Biden attended a banquet dinner at Dublin Castle. The theme of the dinner, attended by current and retired politicians and public servants, was in-season Irish produce.
The menu consisted of a seafood starter with Lambay Island crab cake, a roast lamb main course and pear and maple tart for dessert.
On Friday he is to fly to County Mayo and visit the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Knock, a Catholic shrine. He will also meet relatives from another side of his family before making a speech outside St Muredach’s Cathedral in Ballina.
