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US President Joe Biden will conclude his visit to the island of Ireland with a public speech in the town where some of his ancestors are from. Biden will travel to the west of Ireland, where he will deliver a speech at a cathedral in Ballina, Co Mayo, on Friday night. Before that, you will visit the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Knock, also in Co Mayo.
Knock Shrine is a Catholic shrine that has been visited by several popes, most recently by Pope Francis in 2018.
No barrier is too thick or too strong for Ireland
Biden will then visit the Family History Research Unit at the North Mayo Genealogy and Heritage Center.
On Wednesday, the president visited Co Louth, where part of his family met, and the visit to Co Mayo follows on the other side of his family tree.
Biden is also believed to make a private visit to the Mayo Roscommon Hospice in Castlebar, dedicated to his son Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015.
The tour will end in the town of Ballina, where Biden will deliver a speech at St Muredach's Cathedral.
Biden's great-great-grandfather, Edward Blewitt, sold 27,000 bricks to the cathedral in 1827, helping buy tickets for him and his family to sail to America decades later in 1851.
The Mayo tours conclude the president's four-day trip to the island of Ireland.
In the Irish parliament on Thursday, Biden expressed his pride in addressing the country's politicians.
"It's one of the great honors of my career, to be here today, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart," he said.
At a dinner at Dublin Castle in his honour, the president received a standing ovation at the end of a speech in which he reflected on his family roots, telling the audience: "No barrier is too thick or too strong for Ireland."
PA wire
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