A giant mural depicting the US Presidential candidate Joe Biden has been unveiled in Ballina, Co Mayo this evening.
The painting, measuring 5m x 3.5m, was completed by local artists Smiler Mitchell and Leslie Lackey in recent days.
Mr Biden has links to Co Mayo and has visited the area on a number of occasions in recent years.
He travelled to Mayo in 2016, in his capacity as US Vice President. In 2017, he returned to turn the sod on a new hospice building outside Castlebar.
A giant mural depicting the US Presidential candidate Joe Biden is being unveiled in Ballina, Co Mayo, this evening. Mr Biden has links to the area and has visited on a number of occasions in recent years. | Read more: https://t.co/xhWk3oKsry pic.twitter.com/mHtEmD1G52
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) September 4, 2020
The Democratic candidate for the White House was due to return last year to perform the official opening of the hospice, but was unable to travel due to commitments related to his presidential campaign.
However, he sent a video message to the assembled guests, regretting his absence and pledging to come back to the west of Ireland as soon as possible.
Mr Biden's great, great, great grandfather, Edward Blewitt, emigrated to the US from Ballina over 160 years ago.
The mural has been erected on Market Square, close to the old Blewitt homestead on Garden Street.
Independent Councillor Mark Duffy, who was involved in the initiative, said he hoped Mr Biden would be able to return to Ballina as US President in the coming year, to see the painting.
A story board detailing the Biden link to the area has been erected beside the mural.
It is the latest in a series of art installations in Ballina, aimed at marking the impact people with connections to the area have made nationally and internationally.
Earlier this year, a depiction of the former Ireland football manager Jack Charlton was unveiled close to his favourite fishing spot on the River Moy.
Mr Charlton regularly fished on the river and purchased a house in the town in the early 1990s.
