US vice-president Joe Biden will tee it up with Irish PM Enda Kenny in his native Mayo this August – with a stop-off in Dublin along the way.
The Irish Independent reports that keen golfer Biden has accepted Fine Gael leader Kenny’s offer to visit Ireland this summer.
Biden made clear he would visit Ireland this year during his recent inauguration into the Irish America Hall of Fame in New York.
The paper says the Vice-President is now expected to visit in August and will stop off in Mayo and Dublin. A trip to Louth, his other ancestral county is also under consideration.
The paper also says the VP will bring his grandchildren with him and may stay in Ireland for a week.
Vice-President Biden is proud of his strong County Louth roots and also has links to Mayo, Kenny’s homeland.
The US Secret Service’s is already working on VP Biden’s trip, codenamed ‘Celtic’ but no itinerary has been formalised.
The renowned Carne links in Belmullet, Westport golf club and the nine-hole course at Ashford Castle are favorites to host the Vice-President.
The invitation to play golf in Ireland was issued by PM Kenny when Biden hosted a breakfast at his residence in Washington last month.
The vice-president told Kenny that a check of his genealogy had found he was five-eighths Irish. He also joked about his mother telling him not to hold it against his father for being English.
Kenny confirmed after the meeting that VP Biden would visit Ireland this year.
He said: “I am very glad to hear you say you are coming to Ireland this year. Just to say that publicly for those of you down there in the Fourth Estate: Biden is on his way.
“The vice-president will come to Ireland this year and we hope that we can have a little round on the golf course if we get an opportunity.”
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