US president says he ‘always wants to come back to Ireland’

US President Joe Biden has said he “always wants to come back to Ireland” as he welcomed Irish premier Leo Varadkar to the Oval Office.

Mr Biden received a very warm welcome during his first official visit to Ireland as president last April.

He travelled across the island from Belfast to Dublin where he received a standing ovation as he addressed the Irish Parliament before tracing his family roots in Co Louth and Co Mayo.

Mr Varadkar is in the US this week following the tradition of the annual visit of the Taoiseach just ahead of St Patrick’s Day.

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Mr Biden and Mr Varadkar held a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office on Friday ahead of which the president thanked the Taoiseach for his welcome to Ireland last year, quipping that his family “weren’t sure we wanted to come home”.

When asked by reporters whether he would come back to Ireland, Mr Biden said: “I always want to come back to Ireland.”

Addressing the Taoiseach, Mr Biden said: “I want to thank you again for the reception I had when I was last in Ireland. As a matter of fact, my family weren’t sure we wanted to come home, it was so nice.

“It’s great to see you again, great chance to return some of the hospitality that you provided me when I was in Ireland last. And I know there are all kinds of old Irish sayings, but my grandfather Finnegan used to say, ‘May the hinge of our friendship never go rusty’.

“He had all these sayings – the Irish in America sometimes think they’re more Irish than the Irish – but I don’t think we’re going to let it go rusty.

“We’re vital for each other’s economies and we’re good friends and today celebrates 100 years of diplomatic relations between Ireland and America, and as far as that friendship goes, it keeps increasing not diminishing.”