IRELAND rolls out the red carpet for the US President Joe Biden during his historic visit, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said in Washington.
We are very much looking forward to that visit,” the Taoiseach said, dismissing suggestions that the British Prime Minister appeared to have defeated him by inviting the President to Northern Ireland.
Varadkar said the president will spend most of his time in the Republic. “In many ways, President Biden is coming home,” he said, referring to his roots with the Finnegan clan in Louth and the Blewitts in Ballina, Co Mayo.
“He speaks of himself as an Irishman, an Irish-American,” the Taoiseach noted.
“We’re going to roll out the red carpet — and we’re going to make him feel very welcome,” he said during an appointment at Washington DC’s Mayflower Hotel, close to the White House, where the two leaders will meet on St. Patrick’s Day.
“We would like to thank him and America in particular for the vital role they have played, both in helping to build our economy and in helping to build peace in Ireland,” the Taoiseach added.
Answering a question like Gaeilge, the Taoiseach added that the dates for the visit are not yet set, nor are many of the engagements.
But it is clear that President Biden could arrive up to a week after the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, which falls on April 10.
It is expected that ex-senator George Mitchell and Bill Clinton could come to Belfast for a Queens University event to mark the anniversary, and that two US presidents could be on Irish soil at the same time.