“It’s emotional, it’s a very proud day for our family and for Ireland,” Blewitt, 43, told AFP. “Ballina is very special to him.”
Biden’s lineage is never far from his lips, leading to accusations among Northern Irish unionists that his trip to the Emerald Isle is a campaign move ahead of his re-election.
“The relative strength of Irish-Americans as a percentage of all Americans has been steadily declining, but Ireland retains a major influence on America,” said Collin Parsons, director of global Irish studies at Georgetown University in Washington.
“From music to literature and much more, Irish culture has always found an eager public in America, and not just among Irish-Americans,” he told AFP.
But the gaffe-prone president made a characteristic omission at a community gathering at a bar in Dundalk late on Wednesday as he applauded former Irish rugby player and distant cousin Rob Kearney.
Biden praised Kearney for “beating the hell out of the Black and Tans”, confusing a ruthless British Army auxiliary force that fought Irish independence rebels in the early 1920s with New Zealand’s All Blacks rugby team Was.
The White House improved the record.
“I think to everyone in Ireland who is a fan of rugby, it was incredibly clear that the President was talking about the All Blacks,” Sloat told reporters on Thursday.
“It was certainly clear to his cousin sitting next to him.”