Joseph Robinette Biden

“ We owe a debt of gratitude to the Irish-American inventors and entrepreneurs who helped define America as the land of opportunity. Irish-American writers pollinated America’s literary landscape with their love of language and storytelling, while Irish lyricism has brought poetry, art, music, and dance to nourish our hearts and souls. ”

“ As I said when I visited Dublin in 2016, our nations have always shared a deep spark—linked in memory and imagination, joined by our histories and our futures. Everything between us runs deep: literature, poetry, sadness, joy, and, most of all, resilience. ”

“ Irish Americans became the firefighters and police officers who have protected us. They are the activists who organized unions to give voice and strength to America’s workers. They are the educators who taught generations of American students and the public servants who have answered the call to service in the halls of the Congress, the Supreme Court, and the White House. ”

“ For years, they brought Ireland into their homes in America. Working hard. Raising families. Remembering always where they came from. By 1909, my grandparents Ambrose Finnegan and Geraldine Blewitt met and married in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and passed on to my mother, Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden, a pride and a passion that runs through the bloodstream of all Irish-Americans. ”