Biden's ancestral towns prepare warm Irish welcome

Residents in Ballina have been busy preparing for the arrival of U.S. President Joe Biden, hanging American flags and painting buildings. Biden is due to travel to Ireland next week, with a stop in Ballina, from which one of his great-great grandfathers left for the United States in 1850.The White House says Biden will visit Belfast, Northern Ireland on Tuesday and Wednesday to mark 25 years since the Good Friday peace accord.

He will then head south to the Republic of Ireland, where he will address the Dublin parliament.In Ballina, he’s due to deliver a speech on Friday in front of the 19th-century cathedral.Biden also plans to visit the Cooley Peninsula in County Louth, about 240 kilometers from Ballina, on Ireland’s east coast.