US Vice President Joe Biden has finished his last engagement in Ireland and is heading to Dublin Airport.
Mr Biden attended a lunch hosted by Taoiseach Enda Kenny at Farmleigh House in Dublin this afternoon.
Speaking at the lunch at Farmleigh, Mr Kenny said it had been a privilege to welcome his close friend Mr Biden to Ireland.
He described the Vice President as a man of conscience, a man of courage, a man of conviction.
In response, Mr Biden – who opened his remarks with joke "the Bidens aren't going home" – said that friend was a word used cheaply in international diplomacy but he really considered Mr Kenny to be his friend.
He paid tribute to the shared values of the two countries, which he said included a belief that there was no challenge that could not be overcome by human ingenuity.
He said he said had heard so much about Ireland when growing up in America that he had wondered how much was fact and how much was fiction – but at times during this visit it felt like he was at home.
Joe Biden says the Bidens don't want to go home, says he really considers Enda a friend pic.twitter.com/UU095SQwCp
— Colman O'Sullivan (@colmanos) June 26, 2016
Mr Biden has been on a six-day visit to Ireland. He arrived on Tuesday evening.
Yesterday he visited various locations including the Kilwirra Cemetery in Co Louth and Newgrange in Co Meath.
Speaking in Dublin last night, Mr Biden urged the people of Northern Ireland not to be shaken by the Brexit result.
He was attending the Ireland Fund’s 40th anniversary dinner when he made the comments, where he added that the decision to leave the EU "introduces some economic uncertainty".
