Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2023

April 12, 2023

The President. Well, it feels like home. I said last time I was here, in a senseâand I know why my ancestors and many of your relatives left during the famine andâbut, you know, when you're here, you wonder why anyone would ever want to leave. No, I mean it.

So it's good to be back. And I want to thank another proud son of Louth, the Prime Minister Martin, the guy behind me here. Now, I met him when he was the Taoiseach. And the bad news was, we put him up in a lovely quarters across from the White House, and he had COVID. [*Laughter*]

So the factâand I'm here with my sister Valerie and my youngest son Hunter Biden. Stand up, guys. I'm proud of you.

And I wish our mom, Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden, were here today. She'd be so damn proud. You knowâand sheâLouth held such a special place in her heart, and it really did. And today we carry her home in our heart. For real. We think about her all the time. And coming here feels like coming home, and it really does. The wayâevery time I've come, the welcome, the people on the streets. They're just soâso gracious to us.

And earlier today I had a chance to visit another special place: Carlingford Castle. High in the hill, the castle that was likely one of the last glimpses that the Finnegan family saw when they set sail for America. And they set sail with courage and hope, and they crossed the sea.

And through generations, the Finnegans brought this island home from Ireland to Scranton, Pennsylvania, where we were raisedâwhere I was raised, I should say, and my mother lived.

And matter of fact, I'm going to be heading to the other endâthe side of the island to theâ to Mayo because myâmy mother'sâmy grandmother's maiden name was Blewitt. And the Blewitts are from Mayo. And we brought over the mayor of Scranton because it's a sister city to Mayo.

Andâbut my Grandpa Finnegan would also sayâevery time we walked out, Iâwe'd talk about background and heritage, he'd sayâhe'd go, "Remember, Joey, the best drop of blood in you is Irish." [*Laughter*] Oh, you all think I'm kidding? [*Laughter*] I'm not kidding. I'm not kidding.

And he'd never been to Ireland, but he raised his family with a fierce pride in our Irish ancestry, a pride that spoke to the history that binds us and the values that unite us. And it's important to remember that it's the values that unite us. You know, the values I heard from my mother. She used to say: "Joey, remember, you're defined by your courage. You're defined by your courage, and you're redeemed by your loyalty." That was her code. "You're defined by your courage." She said, "Without courage, you could never take a chance on just about anything."

And so, you know, the values that my father, whose saving grace was a quarter of his family was Hanafees from Galway. Thatâhad helped. You know, Biden's English. I hate to tell you that. [*Laughter*] I don't hate toâI'm joking, but it's true. [*Laughter*]

And as a matter of a fact, I have a call in to the former Ambassador toâfrom Great Britain to the United States, who wasâbecame a friendâbecause the British Embassy is alongside the fence that separates the Vice President's Residence from the British Embassy. We became

friends. We used to always kid him and talk about how, you know, "Lay off the Irish, man." You know, joking with him.

And one day, he said, "Biden's English." I said, "No, it's Dutch." I was joking with him. [*Laughter*]

And to make a long story short: His last tour, he came home to England and, I later learned, went to the Admiralty to determineâbecause he knew the name Biden was English. And he found that my great-great-great-grandfather, I think it wasâI was trying to find the bookâin 1828 or '38, I can't recallâwas a captain in the East Indian Tea Company. And he got them to reprint a bookâthe Admiralty to reprint a book. He wrote the rules of a mutiny forâ[*laughter*]â no, seriouslyâfor the British Navy. And there's a picture of him sitting in his cabin looking very captain-ish with a big British bulldog next to him. [*Laughter*]

And he gave me the book. He said, "I don't want to hear anymore from you." [*Laughter*] But anyways.

But all kidding aside, you know, the fact is that, you know, my dad taught us a lot. And he used toâour dinner table was a place where you accidently sat down to eat andâbut it was a place where we had discussions. And my dadâour dad worked like hell. And he'd come home from work and then go back atâwe'd have dinner at 6 o'clock. And it was a placeâas I said, we had conversations and incidentally ate. And then weâhe'd go back to work until 9 o'clock.

Andâbut my dad had thisâhe was aâreally a fine man. And he talked about theâhis favorite word was thatâ"dignity." He said, "Everyoneâeveryoneâis entitled to be treated with dignity, Joey, and respect no matter what." My father would no more walk by the shoeshine guy in the Hotel du Pont than he would walk by the chairman of the board who used to walk by.

So that was myâour dad. And he meant it: everyone.

These are the same values I've tried to pass down to my childrenâmy son Hunter, my deceased son Beau, my daughter Ashleyâthat everyoneâeveryoneâis entitled to be treated with dignity. Everybody.

And they're the same values Iâthat weâthatâincluding my granddaughters. I haveâthe great thing about granddaughters is they're crazy about their grandfather. [*Laughter*] I've worked on it from the veryâyou think I'm jokingâI worked on it from the beginning.

And my number-two granddaughter andâwhen I walked inâmyâshe was being born, and Hunt was there andâhad just had been born. We walked into the recovery room, and I said, "What are we going to name her?" And he said, "Finnegan."

And I said, "No, what are we going to name her?" And becauseâI thought he meant Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden they're going to name her. He said, "No, Finnegan." I said, "What are we going to call her?" He said: "Finnegan, Dad! Finnegan!" [*Laughter*]

Finnegan's aâworks for an international company now. She's a great kid.

Andâbut look, the fact is, I've often said the Irish are the only people in the world, in my view, who actually are nostalgic about the future. Think about it. We're nostalgic about the future. I think we all are, no matter where we live, if we have Irish blood in us. And it's because more than anythingâmore than anything in my experienceâhope is what beats in the heart of all of people, but particularly in the heart of the Irish.

Hope. Every action is about hope. It can make things better. And hope that built both our nations and has been passed down, generation to generation, by our families. And it's hope that continues to this day.

Nearly 45 years ago, as some of you may rememberânone of you women are old enough to know, but some of you men may beâ[*laughter*]â45 years ago, Pope John Paul spoke down the road, quoting St. Patrick. And the Pope said, and I quote: "'I have kept the faith.' And it has been the ambition of the Irish down [through; White House correction] the centuries . . . to have kept the faith."

I think that's who we are. We keep the faith. I'm not talking about religion per se; I'm talking about keeping the faithâthe faith in who we are and what we believe and what our values are.

So my message to you today is quite simple: We have to continue to keep the faith.

Every time I walk outâthis is not a jokeâwalk out of my Grandpa Finnegan's house up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, he'd yell, "Joey, keep the faith." And then I think myâeither my uncle or my grandmother would yell: "No, Joey. Spread it." Spread it.

But all together we have to keep working toward a future that's of greater dignity. And as we face darknessâand there is darkness we have to faceâbut we must keep marching forward because the world is a greaterâit's justâthe world has such possibilities.

I was with Xi Jinping. I've spent more time with him than any world leader has over the last 10 years. And overâthey keep meticulous count, as the former Taoiseach will knowâand over now 87 hours' worth.

And I was in the Tibetan Plateau with him. I traveled 17,000 miles with him in China over 10 years. And he asked meâhe said, "Can you define America for me?" And I could say the same of Ireland. I said, "Yes, I can." I said, "In one word: possibilities." We believe anything is possible. Anything's possible. Anything's possible if we set our mind to it. That's who we are. That's what we believe, in my view.

So let me close with this. Around the time Owen Finnegan boarded *The Brothers *boundâ the ship, *The Brothers, *bound for America, another shoemaker named Joseph Kearney from Moneygall was leavingâbecause my great-great-grandfather was a shoemaker, Owenâand he sailed on the *Caroline Reade *andâarriving in America just 5 weeks before my great-great- grandfather. And they were both shoemakers. And it's doubtful they knew each other. And they came out of the same port.

Andâbut one thing we do know: They left everything behind, andâbut they had faith.

They had faith in an uncertain future.

And in all their dreams, I'm not sure they could have imagined that 175 years later, both their great-great grandsons would be President of the United States of America: Barack Obama and Joe Biden. But that's what you breed here: just faith in the possibilities that are out there.

You know, we come fromâValerie and I come from not poor means, but modest means. We lived in a split-level home in a development of similar homes of 75 homes. It was a nice neighborhood. And we had three bedrooms, four kids, and a grandpop living with us. Andâbut it wasâit was home.

I now look back and wonder how Mom and Dad did that. But the point is that, you know, there's justâthere's justâwe were taught anything is possible. Anything is possible.

And soâthe fact is thatâis I think possibilities are what we have to be focused on. And that's the power of faith. And that's the promise of hope.

And so, as my mother would say, "That's the Irish of it." That's the Irish of it. Whenever we'd say something was unusual, she said, "Joey, that's the Irish of it." And it is the Irish of it.

I'm so proud to be here, so proud to be in Louth, so proud to be withâI don't want to ruin their reputation, butââ

[*At this point, the President briefly whispered as follows*.]

ââthe Kearneys are relatives. [*Laughter*] We take great faith.

And the closing comment I make: You see this tie I have with this shamrock on it? This was given to me by one of these guys right here. He was a hell of a rugby player, and he beat the hell out of the Black and Tans [All Blacks; White House correction]. Oh, God. [*Laughter*]

Butâbut it was when youâor it's Soldier Field. Wasn't it, the game?

Former Irish union rugby player Rob Kearney. Chicago.

The President. Chicago. And after it was all over, he gave my brotherâallegedly for me, but if it wasn't, I still took it. I still got the tie. I wear it with great pride.

And so thank you all for the homecoming welcome. The bad news for all of you is: We'll be back. [*Laughter*] There's no way to keep us out.

But thank you, thank you, thank you. We love you.

NOTE: The President spoke at 8:14 p.m. In his remarks, he referred to Minister for Defence and Minister for Foreign Affairs MicheÃ¡l Martin of Ireland, in his former capacity as Prime Minister of Ireland; Mayor Paige G. Cognetti of Scranton, PA; United Kingdom's former Ambassador to the U.S. Peter Westmacott; and President Xi Jinping of China. He also referred to his sister Valerie Biden Owens and brothers James B. and Francis W. Biden.

Categories: Addresses and Remarks : Windsor Bar and Restaurant in Dundalk, Ireland. Locations: Dundalk, Ireland.

Names: Biden, Ashley; Biden, Finnegan J.; Biden, Francis W.; Biden, James B.; Biden, R. Hunter; Cognetti, Paige G.; Kearney, Rob; Martin, MicheÃ¡l; Obama, Barack; Owens, Valerie Biden; Westmacott, Peter; Xi Jinping.

Subjects: China, President; COVIDâ19 pandemic; Ireland, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defence; Ireland, President Biden's visit; Ireland, relations with U.S.; Ireland, Windsor Bar and Restaurant in Dundalk.

DCPD Number: DCPD202300293.