A verbal gaffe by the US President in Dundalk has been acknowledged and corrected in the official White House transcript of his remarks yesterday evening.
During a speech in front of his distant relatives and other guests at the Windsor Bar in the town, Joe Biden said his former Irish rugby player cousin Rob Kearney "beat the hell out of the Black and Tans".
A verbal gaffe by US President Joe Biden in Dundalk has been acknowledged and corrected in the official White House transcript of his remarks.
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) April 13, 2023
Mr Biden said his cousin, former Irish rugby player Rob Kearney, 'beat the hell out of the Black and Tans' | https://t.co/kf5C0Ji5RD pic.twitter.com/kRUpllwEpG
In the transcript of his comments released by the White House, the words "Black and Tans" has been crossed-out, with the words "All Blacks" included instead.
Mr Biden's verbal gaffe happened as he referred to the shamrock tie that he was wearing during his visit to The Windsor bar in Dundalk yesterday.
The president was thanking Rob Kearney for the gift of the Irish team tie after a victory against the New Zealand rugby team at Soldier Field in Chicago in 2016.
Mr Biden mixed up the nickname of the New Zealand team, the All Blacks, with the Black and Tans.
He said: "See this tie I have, this shamrock tie?
"It was given to by one of these guys right here, who's a hell of a rugby player who beat the hell out of the Black and Tans."
Correcting himself after grimacing, Mr Biden continued: "Ah god. But, but it was when you were at Soldier Field, wasn't it? Chicago.
"After it was all over he gave my brother, allegedly for me - but if it wasn't I still took it - I still got the tie. I wore it with great pride."
At his historic speech in the Dáil this evening, Mr Biden appeared to reference the earlier gaffe, telling the joint houses of the Oireachtas that he has a rugby ball in the Oval Office signed by the Irish team from the game when they beat the All Blacks in Dublin.
He went on to recall a trip to Ireland with his family in 2016 when they explored their ancestry in the Cooley Peninsula.
He recalled returning to Carlingford on Wednesday, and the view over Carlingford Lough, "likely one of the last glimpses of Ireland my Finnegan ancestors saw as they gazed on their way out in what in those days was referred to as a coffin ship".
He said Barack Obama's ancestors had sailed from the same port five weeks earlier, adding: "The idea they both sailed for a new life, and thought their great-great-grandsons would both be president, I think, is really is a little bit of Irish malarky."
He said talking about his Irish ancestry is "not to wax poetic about bygone days, but because of the story of my family's journey and those who left and those who stayed is emblematic of the stories of so many Irish and American families".
"These stories are the very heart of what binds Ireland and America together," he said. "They speak to a history defined by our dreams, they speak to a present written by our shared responsibilities, and they speak to a future poised for unlimited shared possibilities.
"Today I'd like to reflect on the enduring strength of the connections between Ireland and the United States, a partnership for the ages."
