Watch: ‘I’m not going home', Joe Biden jokes on visit to this country
Joe Biden in Ireland: Joe Biden said, “People of Ireland, it's so good to be back in Ireland."
US President Joe Biden declared in Ireland, "I'm not going home" as he made an historic address to the Irish parliament. As the US President returned to his ancestral home, his only wish was that he could stay longer. In his speech, Joe Biden spoke of his pride in his Irish roots and support for the peace process in Northern Ireland saying that the UK "should be working closer" with Ireland.
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Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Leo Varadkar welcoming Joe Biden saying that both the US and Ireland have “a similar past and philosophy” where they "are joined by bonds of kinship as well as of friendship".
"By looking always to the future, you have helped us to move beyond the past, and build something better," Leo Varadkar said. Speaking on the special relationship between Ireland and the US, Joe Biden recounted one of his grandfather's favourite sayings.
"If you're lucky enough to be Irish, you're lucky enough," he said.
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Thanking the people of Ireland for a warm welcome, Joe Biden said, “No barrier is too thick or too strong for Ireland and the United States of America,” adding, "There is nothing the two nations cannot do when they do it together".
"People of Ireland, it's so good to be back in Ireland," he said making a remark in Irish: "I am home."
In an earlier address in Leinster House, Joe Biden had also praised the "huge strides" that have been taken since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 which was focussed on ending conflict in Northern Ireland.