Biden visit to Louth plans to include walkabouts in Dundalk and Carlingford

Planners organising Joe Biden’s visit to Ireland are looking at organising walkabouts for the US president in Dundalk and Carlingford on his stop in Co Louth next Wednesday.

US Service Service agents have been spotted scoping out King John’s Castle, also known as Carlingford Castle, the 12th-century national monument in the village, ahead of the visit.

The walkabouts in Carlingford and Dundalk are being planned for Wednesday evening, according to sources familiar with the planning around Mr Biden’s four-day visit to Northern Ireland and the Republic.

Mr Biden’s great-great-grandfather Owen Finnegan came from the Cooley peninsula and emigrated to the US in the 1840s, arriving through New York.

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It is not yet clear if the president will visit Lily Finnegan’s, the local pub between Carlingford and Dundalk in Mr Biden’s ancestral townland of Whitestown which he visited when he travelled to Ireland as US vice-president in 2016.

[ Joe Biden visit to Ireland: Everything we know so far about the trip ]

John Owen Finegan, a fourth cousin of Mr Biden, recalled this week being one of a select few relatives who were given VIP access to the American politician as he visited Whitestown in 2016.

“When he came into the pub… it was as if he was a guy that was out for a Sunday stroll. He was a calm, gentle man and someone says to him: ‘Welcome to Ireland, Joe’. His answer was: ‘You mean, welcome home.’”

Mr Finegan said there was a “buzz” around the Cooley peninsula.

“We’ll all be waiting with flags and a céad míle fáilte. Hopefully he’ll have a good time back home.”

Fifth cousin Andrea McKevitt explained that Owen Finnegan left the peninsula “in search of the American dream”.

“When Biden became vice-president of the United States, the connections were made back to the Cooley Peninsula and it was a surprise to us all to discover we were actually related to him,” she said.

A local Fianna Fáil councillor, Ms McKevitt met Mr Biden in Washington as part of the St Patrick’s Day celebrations.

“We’re really looking forward to welcoming him next week and we’re glad that his trip to the ‘wee county’ is confirmed.

“There’s a great sense of euphoria around the place. Everyone is asking what’s happening, when’s he coming, where’s he going?”

Shane Brennan remembers bringing his then five-year-old daughter to Fitzpatrick’s Bar in Rockmarshall in 2016, after his wife told him there was a “bit of commotion” there.

They went for a meal and Mr Brennan said what he believed to be a “CIA agent” told him that there was a chance they could meet the president if they went outside.

Now 12, Aoibhinn Brennan still remembers the advice Mr Biden gave her.

[ Biden visit to Stormont ruled out during Northern Ireland trip ]

“We were in Fitzpatrick’s and we decided to go out to the side to see if we could get a glimpse of Joe.

“He kind of came over to me to kind of get away from the reporters and he started talking to me.

“He kissed my hand and told me not to date boys until I’m 30!”

She said her friends saw it on the news and thought it was “pretty cool”.

The moment has been immortalised in a picture and the family wants to give the president a copy.

“Hopefully we’ll get him to sign it,” Mr Brennan said.

Mr Biden is the only person to hold the “freedom of Louth”, awarded by the local county council.

The chief executive of Louth County Council, Joan Martin, said Mr Biden’s links to Louth were discovered shortly before his visit.

“His ancestry in Louth hadn’t been uncovered much before that so it was quite a new story for Louth,” she said.

[ Irish America has always had our back ]

In his previous visit, she presented him with a wooden brown bull to represent a story from local mythology – The Táin.

“He was very charmed that I was able to tell him that it was carved from a fallen tree that would’ve been standing in Co Louth when his ancestors sailed to America,” she added.

“That’s a nice tangible link back to his ancestors,” Ms Martin said.

“He had an instant affinity for Louth and the people of Louth – why wouldn’t he?” – Additional reporting PA