Northern Ireland

US president Joe Biden could make state visit to Republic this year

US president Joe Biden
US president Joe Biden US president Joe Biden

US President Joe Biden is expected to visit the Republic this year, with more details likely to emerge on St Patrick's Day, according to reports.

The news was conveyed to Fianna Fáil TDs by Taoiseach Micheál Martin and a senior government official, The Sunday Times reported yesterday.

According to sources more details will emerge during Mr Martin's anticipated trip to the White House for St Patrick's Day.

The US president has ancestral home places in counties Mayo and Louth and it is understood he has told Mr Martin he wants to visit the Republic as president.

Mr Martin will formally reiterate "an open invitation" to the president when he makes his first St Patrick's Day visit to Washington as taoiseach for the traditional shamrock ceremony.

Last year's event was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The taoiseach issued the first invitation in a phone call with Mr Biden after he was elected in 2020, and it has been discussed twice since then.

Mr Biden made an official visit to the Republic in 2016 as vice-president but any visit as president is likely to be treated as a state one and would include a visit to Áras an Uachtaráin and a banquet in either Dublin Castle or Farmleigh, the state guesthouse.

A spokesman at the American Embassy in Dublin said there were currently no plans for a visit but an American government source told the Sunday Times that "if the president says on St Patrick's Day he will go to Ireland, the planning will begin immediately and it could be in place for the summer".