US President Joe Biden had another gaffe at the end of his Irish trip when he appeared to give a wholehearted commitment to a united Ireland.
Asked if he thought it would happen by an American White House reporter as he stepped off the plane in America in the early hours of Saturday morning, he said: “I think it will. I think we’re getting close.”
But he quickly backtracked and said he had misheard or misunderstood the question before saying no, he wasn’t calling for a united Ireland at this time.
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His latest gaffe came after he almost caused a major international rift with many in the British Government last week after he confused the All Blacks rugby team with the infamous and hated Black and Tans forces of the Irish War of Independence.
He cleared this up quickly the next day and explained that he, of course, meant the All Blacks as he was talking about rugby and his cousin, Irish rugby legend Rob Kearney.
President Biden was returning from a successful four-day trip to Ireland and had just touched down at Dover air force base in
Delaware when he committed his latest faux pas.
He was asked by one of the regular White House reporters who follow the President on all trips: “Did anyone ask you about Irish unity, whether that is ever something you’ll see in your lifetime and in our lifetime?”
The President said: “I... say that again?” The reporter asked: “Irish unity, did that come up at all in any of your conversations?” President Biden then said: “Oh, yeah.”
But then appearing to try and row back, he stated, “no,” before the reporter asked again: “Do you think that’s something that’ll ever happen?”
And this time President Biden said: “I think it will. I think we’re getting close.”
However, the President then seemed to track back again, saying: “You mean the unification of the island?” The official transcript has the reporter then saying: “Yeah, that’s what I mean, yeah, sorry.” And the President replies: “No, no, no, no. No, that, that is, I think it’s more, I think the... when that came up with someone raising the question in a larger group, and they said, ‘well, maybe Scotland first’.
“They were being facetious. But all kidding aside, no, it’s just about making sure that the Good Friday Agreements and the Accord work.”
Last week on his visit to the Windsor pub in Co Louth, President Biden was talking about a souvenir rugby ball given to him by distant cousin, Rob Kearney, last week.
It was one of the balls used in the famous Irish rugby victory over the All Blacks, New Zealand, in Soldiers’ Field, Chicago, 2016.
He said: “This was given to me by one of these guys, right here.
“He was a hell of a rugby player.
“He beat the hell out of the Black and Tans.” The White House corrected official reports the next day to say he meant the All Blacks.
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