Joseph Robinette Biden and Micheál Martin

“ And I think the idea that we — we talked about, about renewing our partnership and the All-Island Consortium — Cancer Consortium. The U.S.-Ireland and Northern Ireland — it’s a partnership that’s — that I think we can learn a lot from one another. It’s one of the things that, as President, Taoiseach, I am going to focus heavily on with our National Institute of Health: on dealing with — with cancer. We’ve all been victims of it, in terms of our families. We all know what it’s like. And we’re going to make major investments in NIH and cancer research and development. ”

“ And so, I think, you know, there’s a lot of folks here in Ireland — my — my friends from Ireland would always say the American Irish think they’re more Irish than the Irish. But the truth of the matter is that we have a great affection for the country and a great affection for the tradition. ”

“ The green shoots point to the brighter future that I know lies ahead. And building that brighter future will, of course, be part of what we discuss today. The policies of our — of our two governments are very closely aligned on the big challenges the world faces. ”

“ And here in Ireland, people are make — are marking the occasion in their homes, but they will be thinking especially of their loved ones around the world and sending them best thoughts and wishes. And they will do so in the hope that next year will be better, as I do believe it will. ”

“ Both the United States and Europe have put funds of unprecedented scale in place to support this vital work and to build a stable and inclusive future supporting the digital and green agendas, promoting open and fair rules-based trade, delivering greater equality and opportunity. ”

“ There are so many areas where the Irish and American people are already working together, and we would celebrate some of them here today: a consortium through which our practitioners and researchers would improve their efforts to defeat cancer — that most pernicious disease that I know is very close to your heart in terms of dealing with that ”

“ We have all endured the most difficult year. But alongside suffering and the loss, we have seen immense compassion, care, and courage, especially from our head workers, our educators, and our volunteers. ”

“ And tonight, Taoiseach, I wish you — we hope you’ll be able to see it, at least remotely. We’re going to light up the — the White House in green. And we — to celebrate the deep, deep affection that the — we Americans have, particularly Irish Americans have for Ireland and the people of Ireland. And that includes millions of Americans like my — like my great-great-grandfather and my great-grandfather and my grandfather, all of whom were Irish Americans on both sides of the family. ”

“ And I was just, on the telephone, briefed by the Attorney General of the United States and the Director of the FBI. And the investigation is ongoing and the question of motivation is still to be determined.
But whatever the motivation here, I know that Asian Americans are in very — very concerned because, as you know, I’ve been speaking about the brutality against Asian Americans for the last couple months, and I think it’s a — it is very, very troublesome. ”