“We know what needs to happen, and I’ll be meeting my team over the next few days and we’ll be going back to the government. “So we welcome his visit here today, it’s good to see the president coming and we hope to see investment into Northern Ireland flowing from his efforts and those of the special envoy.”Īsked if the visit would make any difference to the DUP’s stance regarding the Stormont institutions, Donaldson said “it doesn’t change the political dynamic in Northern Ireland. Speaking to the media immediately after the US president’s speech the DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said he had a “brief conversation” with Biden earlier and he “made clear it’s not his job, as we heard in his speech, to take decisions for political leaders in Northern Ireland, but the USA really stands ready to support Northern Ireland in whatever way it can. I don’t know how to follow this one, but I am looking forward to seeing what opportunities come my way over the next 25 years I suppose and see where it takes me.” – PAįreya McClements, our Northern Editor, writes: “He was very good at putting me at ease before the speech. ![]() She met the president and said he was “incredibly friendly” and “very genuine”. Gabrielle Feenan speaks at Ulster University in Belfast. ![]() “Whilst it has been great to see the successes of the last 25 years, I think that really strong message about looking forward to the next 25 years is crucial and important for our generation coming through.” Gabrielle Feenan, who introduced the president at Ulster University, described it as an “incredible honour”.Ī 23-year-old recent graduate and entrepreneur, she said she was asked to do the honours on Saturday, describing it as a “big secret I had to keep from literally everybody”.įeenan said that the president’s speech was “really inspiring and really positive to see all these things, of hope and prosperity for the future”. US president Joe Biden is greeted by embassy staff and their family upon arrival at the Dublin Airport. ![]() Keep your eye out for the motorcade, as the Beast is now his transport of choice. The intention had been to go via Marine One, aka the presidential helicopter, but the unsettled weather – it’s windy, as well as wet – means there has been a change in plan. Varadkar’s friend will next make his way to Co Louth. Referring to the Taoiseach, he said, “This is a guy who has become, I don’t want to hurt his reputation politically, but in addition to us being allies, we’re also friends.” Shauna Bowers, our reporter at an officially “Baltic” Dublin Airport, writes of the gathering: “Welcome to Ireland, Mr President,” a member of the crowd called out to him. Ronan McGreevy has written more about the US president’s Irish ancestry here.Īfter this visit, don’t even think about showing up a table quiz without knowing that Joe Biden’s middle name is Robinette.Īfter meeting dignitaries, Biden had some nice – if characteristically rambling – interactions with the children of US embassy staff at Dublin Airport fire station, taking a few questions from them and admiring one child’s model of Air Force One. ![]() He died in Baltimore in 1849 at the age of 61.īiden joked in his speech that another William Biden, who was a relative of his, wrote the rules for dealing with mutiny in the Royal Navy.īiden assumed his middle name, Robinette, was French in origin, but now believes that they were French Huguenot Protestants who settled in Nottingham. The first reference to him in the New World was to a William Biden who was based in Maryland in 1822. The Bidens came from Westbourne in West Sussex. In his speech to the Ulster University, he joked that he was once told, “You are English, just remember it”. What about the other 6/16th? The US president made reference to his English ancestors the Bidens. Over the coming days he will visit his Finegan and Kearney relatives in Co Louth and the Blewitts in Co Mayo. Ronan McGreevy writes: Much has been made, not least by Biden himself, about his Irish ancestry.Īccording to the genealogist Megan Smolenyak, Biden is 10/16th Irish based on the ethnicity of his great-grandparents.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |