DUBLIN (AP) \u2014 President Joe Biden on Thursday met with Ireland\u2019s top leaders, speaking of shared values between the two nations and the opportunities ahead, while praising the nation for its humanitarian work welcoming Ukrainian refugees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think our values are the same,\u201d Biden said during a sit-down with\u00a0Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Ireland\u2019s prime minister. \u201cAnd I think our concerns are the same. So I\u2019m really looking forward to continuing to work with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ireland has welcomed nearly 80,000\u00a0refugees from Ukraine following Russia\u2019s invasion, and it has been supportive of U.S-led efforts there. Biden said he was impressed by Ireland\u2019s commitment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know it\u2019s not easy,\u201d he said of accepting so many people into the country. \u201cI just think it feels so good to be able to have this . . . stronger relationship between the United States and Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Varadkar said he was looking forward to hearing about Biden\u2019s visit to Belfast in Northern Ireland, where the president on Wednesday marked the 25th Anniversary of the\u00a0Good Friday agreements that ended years of sectarian violence.\u00a0The U.S.-brokered deal brought peace to a region of the United Kingdom where \u201cthe Troubles\u201d left some 3,600 people dead in bombings and other attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The taoiseach also said he appreciated the president\u2019s leadership, particularly on Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI never thought in my lifetime that we\u2019d see a war of this nature happen in Europe again,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd democracy and liberty and all the things that we believe in are on retreat in large parts of the world. If it wasn\u2019t for American leadership, and if it wasn\u2019t for America and Europe working together, I don\u2019t know what kind of world we\u2019d live in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden was turning back to diplomacy Thursday\u00a0after spending most of Wednesday on a whirlwind countryside tour\u00a0of his ancestry. He also planned to address Ireland\u2019s lawmakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his first stop of the day, Biden met with Irish President Michael D. Higgins at his grand Dublin residence. The two octogenarian leaders clasped hands and laughed as they walked the red carpet inside, where Biden signed the guest book with a writerly missive for Ireland\u2019s poet-president: \u201cAs the Irish saying goes, your feet will bring you where your heart is. It\u2019s an honor to return.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden then shoveled dirt around a freshly planted Irish oak, not far from one planted years earlier by then-President Barack Obama. He also rang the Peace Bell, unveiled in 2008 to mark the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, which ended decades of violence in Northern Ireland. Biden clanged the bell four times, including one \u201cfor all my Irish ancestors, and a fourth one for peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then he thanked Higgins, who turns 82 next week. Biden is 80.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m feeling great, and I\u2019m learning a lot,\u201d Biden said Thursday. \u201cI know it sounds silly, but there\u2019s many Irish-Americans, like my relatives, who\u2019ve never come back here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also watched a youth Gaelic sports demonstration on the back lawn of Farmleigh House where he\u2019d met with the taoiseach, an official Irish guest house once owned by the Guinness family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden arrived in the Republic of Ireland on Wednesday after his appearance in Northern Ireland. Crowds lined five-deep and waited for eight hours to catch a glimpse of Biden in County Louth, where his mother\u2019s family is from. In the town of Carlingford, the Democratic president toured a castle, gazing out over the sea where his ancestors sailed toward America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Along the streets of nearby Dundalk, photos of the president and huge welcome signs were plastered along shop fronts. Children hung out of windows to wave at the president and display the U.S. flag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From inside a packed old pub with a sticky wooden floor, Biden acknowledged that his ancestors emigrated to the United States to escape famine, but he added, \u201cWhen you\u2019re here, you wonder why anyone would ever want to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And he jokingly delivered bad news, saying: \u201cWe\u2019ll be back. There\u2019s no way to keep us out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The president was elated by the dive into his Irish heritage, which he often cites as a driving force in his public and private life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the Irish Family History Centre, Biden \u201cis among the most \u2018Irish\u2019 of all U.S. Presidents.\u201d Ten of his 16 great-great-grandparents were from the Emerald Isle. Biden is particularly\u00a0fond of quoting Irish poets, especially Seamus Heaney. Heaney\u2019s widow was expected to attend the address at parliament Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden is spending three days in Ireland on his first visit back as president. He\u2019ll also attend a gala dinner on Thursday and visit County Mayo, another ancestral area on the west coast, on Friday before returning to Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The president visited in 2016, near the end of his second term as Obama\u2019s vice president.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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