Joe Biden: Meet the Irish cousins cheering on the president-elect
- Published
The sign on the back of Joe Blewitt's work van has raised a few laughs in Ballina
"Joe Biden told me: 'I'll be back as president.' Please God he will."
Irish plumber Joe Blewitt has more reason than most to cheer a Democratic victory in the US election.
For one, it means he can tell people a famous cousin of his will soon be taking up office as the president of the United States.
For another, his town of Ballina, County Mayo can hope the new US president-elect keeps his promise and makes his way back to the west of Ireland soon.
Joe Biden meeting his relatives in County Mayo in 2016
If Mr Biden does visit Ireland, he may have to do a bit of a tour to see all his relatives - the Blewitt clan are among several Irish families who claim kinship with the next US president.
After his victory, Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Micheál Martin sent his congratulations to Mr Biden and noted it was a "particularly special day for the people of County Louth and County Mayo who count President-elect Biden among their own".
Mr Biden's great, great, great grandfather - Edward Blewitt - left Ballina for America during the Irish famine 170 years ago.
Joe Blewitt and his sister Laurita have met Mr Biden several times and have already visited him in the White House in his role as vice-president under Barack Obama.
Joe and Laurita Blewitt were in the White House in 2017 when Joe Biden got the Medal of Freedom
When BBC News NI caught up with the Blewitts this week, both were "exhausted" after sitting up night after night, watching the long, tense election count on TV.
Mr Blewitt said he went to bed "disgusted" at about 04:00 local time on Wednesday morning, when the count wasn't going well for the Biden camp.
However, his sister stayed up all through the night, not wanting to miss a moment of the drama.
"I'm absolutely wrecked," said Laurita Blewitt. "But when you're up against someone like Donald Trump, it's always going to be unpredictable."
The Blewitts said the election has created "a great buzz" around Ballina and locals are very excited about their connection to next occupant of the White House.
"It's going to be massive for the town," said Ms Blewitt. "It's a great claim to have for the people of Ballina."
Joe Biden posing for a photo with residents in Ballina in 2016
A mural of Joe Biden was erected in the market square a few weeks ago and, on election night, a 'Ridin' with Biden' motor cavalcade drove around the town several times in a show of support.
Mr Blewitt also joined the marketing campaign, spraying his work van with the slogan "Joe Biden for the White House, Joe Blewitt for your house".
Now that Mr Biden has taken the top job, the plumber's customers are teasing him about giving up the day job.
"There's been plenty of jokes about me quitting the plumbing and going off to America," Mr Blewitt said.
"I don't think I would be that lucky."
The Blewitts first met Mr Biden in 2016 and he made a second visit to Mayo at Laurita's invitation in 2017.
A Blewitt family banner welcomed Joe Biden to Ballina in 2016
According to Mr Blewitt, it was during this trip that he told his Irish cousins he would one day return to Ballina "as president".
His sister said she hoped this could happen, but, with Covid-19, it's unlikely to be any time soon.
"A trip to Ireland is not going to be his priority," she said. "He has a lot of pressing matters to deal with in America first."
Meanwhile, on the east coast of Ireland, another Irish family are celebrating their famous cousin's success.
Anne Kearney-Quinn, from County Louth, shares a great, great, great grandmother with Mr Biden.
"It's something very special... to have a link with the most powerful person in the world," she told BBC News NI.
Anne (centre, red jacket) with Joe Biden as he met members of the Kearney clan at a Louth restaurant in 2016
Ms Kearney-Quinn is originally from Templetown on the Cooley Peninsula.
When Mr Biden became US vice president in 2008, her late father told her: "You know we're related to that Joe Biden?"
The family were not sure how exactly they were connected to the politician, but shortly before Mr Biden's tour of the Cooley area in 2016, genealogists contacted Anne to confirm she was related to him through their ancestor, Mary Kearney.
Several members of the extended Kearney clan, including Anne's family, met Mr Biden for lunch in a restaurant in Cooley that summer.
"He was extremely charismatic - he's one of those people who really knows how to work a room," she recalled.
"He was very engaging and interested in everybody."
Joe Biden met fans young and old in Jenkinstown, Count Louth
She added that Mr Biden was "very well versed" in his Irish heritage and seemed to be aware of his Kearney connections - some of whom got a little too close at one point.
"My niece got her hair caught in Joe's VP (vice-president) badge on his lapel. He took it off and gave it to her as a keepsake, something she will treasure forever."
Ms Kearney-Quinn would love to welcome him back to Cooley as president and said she would go to the White House "in a heartbeat" if she got an invitation.
"If he doesn't come here, we'll go there," she laughed.
Until then, there will be celebrations - an event to mark the victory of one of the area's most famous US cousins will take place in Carlingford, County Louth on Sunday.
It might be 170 years since Joe Biden's ancestors left Ireland for America, but the president-elect is fiercely proud of Irish roots.
Green, White and Orange House
Joe Biden is the latest US Commander in Chief with strong links to Ireland.
John F Kennedy, whose great-grandfather Patrick was born in Dunganstown, County Wexford, is the most notable example.
It's no shock that the Kennedy family - probably the most famous Irish-American clan in US history - have strong transatlantic links. But the Irish DNA running through some other presidents is more surprising.
Barack Obama visited his ancestral Irish home of Moneygall, County Offaly in 2011
Barack Obama, for instance, can trace Irish ancestry through his mother back to shoemaker Joseph Kearney, from Moneygall, County Offaly.
George Bush Snr and George W Bush have distant ancestors in both Rathfriland, County Down, and County Cork, while Ronald Reagan's great-grandfather was born in Ballyporeen, County Tipperary.
And, in 1878, President Ulysses S Grant came to Ireland to visit his ancestral home in Dergenagh, County Tyrone.
But the country's seventh president, who took up office in 1829, has even closer links than simple ancestry - Andrew Jackson's parents emigrated from Boneybefore, near Carrickfergus, County Antrim.
In 2016, Mr Biden said: "Being Irish, without fear of contradiction, has shaped my entire life."
In the early stages of his run for president, while on the campaign trail, Mr Biden was asked for "a quick word for the BBC" by New York correspondent Nick Bryant.
His response, delivered with a smile: "The BBC? I'm Irish."
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
There are concerns in the UK that Mr Biden's Irish ancestry could also shape his attitude to a post-Brexit trade deal between the UK and US.
High-profile Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, have already warned there is "absolutely no chance" of a US-UK deal if Brexit undermines Northern Ireland's 1998 peace deal, the Good Friday Agreement.
Mr Biden recently added his voice to the debate, after Boris Johnson's government introduced new legislation that would breach part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
Joe Biden was presented with a hurl by then taoiseach (Irish PM) Enda Kenny in 2016
The UK's Internal Market Bill is controversial as it overrides the Northern Ireland Protocol - previously agreed measures which were designed to prevent the return of a hard border in Ireland.
In September, Mr Biden tweeted: "We can't allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit.
"Any trade deal between the US and UK must be contingent upon respect for the agreement and preventing the return of a hard border. Period."
Whether that was just tough talk to win the Irish-American vote, or whether he will be bound by his pre-election position remains to be seen.
Either way, warm welcomes are ready in Ballina and on the Cooley peninsula should Mr Biden find time for a family visit.
- Published31 October 2020
- Published15 October 2020
- Published21 June 2016
- Published26 April 2011
- Published23 May 2011
