After missing the official Washington, D.C. St. Patrick’s Day celebrations on Tuesday because he was in Rome for the papal installation, Vice President Joe Biden will spend Wednesday morning hosting Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny at a breakfast at the vice presidential residence, and Thursday delivering remarks at the Hall of Fame luncheon in New York hosted by Irish Voice sister publication Irish America magazine.
Biden is of Irish descent on his maternal side of the family. His great-grandfather James Finnegan immigrated to the U.S. from Co. Louth in 1850.
“Joe Biden’s story is the story of America,” said Irish America founding publisher Niall O’Dowd. “From humble beginnings and ancestry in Louth to the vice presidency of the United States, it’s an amazing story.”
The 2013 inductees include art collector, entrepreneur and benefactor Brian Burns; businessman and philanthropist Robert M. Devlin; hotelier and humanitarian John Fitzpatrick; and former Congressman Bruce Morrison, an esteemed lawyer, lobbyist and immigration reformer.
A special presentation will be made to former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Jean Kennedy Smith, honoring her diplomatic work on peace in Northern Ireland and her furthering of the Kennedy family’s distinguished legacy of public service. This year marks an important milestone in Kennedy history, as the 50th anniversary of both President Kennedy’s seminal visit to Ireland, on which Kennedy Smith accompanied him, and of his tragic death.
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