President Joe Biden in Ireland: 'It's an honor to return'

After spending most of a day on a whirlwind countryside tour of his ancestry, President Joe Biden is turning back to diplomacy on Thursday, with an address to the Irish parliament and meetings with the country's leaders, and Ukraine is high on the agenda.

In his first stop of the day, Biden met with President Michael D. Higgins at the president's grand Dublin residence. The two octogenarian leaders clasped hands and laughed together as they walked the red carpet inside, where Biden signed the guest book with a writerly missive for Ireland's poet-president: "As the Irish saying goes, your feet will bring you where your heart is. It's an honor to return."

Biden shoveled in dirt for a freshly-planted Irish oak, not far from the one planted by then-President Barack Obama. He also rang the Peace Bell, unveiled in 2008 to mark the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, which ended decades of violence in Northern Ireland. He clanged the bell four times, including one "for all my Irish ancestors, and a fourth one for peace."

Then he thanked Higgins, who turns 82 next week. Biden is 80.

"I'm feeling great, and I'm learning a lot," he said Thursday. "I know it sounds silly, but there's many Irish-Americans, like my relatives, who've never come back here."

Biden will also meet with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Ireland's prime minister, before a speech to parliament in which "he'll be reflecting on the long, close and shared history between the United States and Ireland," said Amanda Sloat, the National Security Council's senior Europe director. In the meetings with leaders, Ireland's continued support of the U.S.-led effort to help Ukraine in the war against Russia will be a focal point, particularly on humanitarian and security...