With just hours remaining until Joe Biden arrives in Belfast there is still no confirmation that the US president is going to pay a visit to his ancestral home towns in the picturesque Cooley Peninsula south of the border with Northern Ireland.
The arrival of the 46th president in Belfast on Tuesday night and in the Republic of Ireland for a three-day visit on Wednesday has been shrouded in secrecy.
But the whirr of Chinook helicopters and sight of police teams with scythes, chainsaws and rakes sweeping the bushes around the 13th century Carlingford Castle in County Louth are tell-tale signs of an imminent visit.
“We only do what we are told to do,” said one police officer on the team sweeping the grounds of the castle, which has been closed until Wednesday for apparently “unknown reasons”. But everyone has their suspicions concerning the president who wears his Irish ancestry almost as much as the Kennedy dynasty.
The head greenkeeper at the local golf course, Oisin White, is a fourth cousin of Biden and met the then vice-president when he last visited in 2016 at Finnegan’s pub down the road in Whitestown, where the teetotal president met distant relatives.
“We haven’t heard anything at all yet, but if I have a chance to meet him again I will,” he said. Late on Monday night, anticipation of a meeting rocketed as officials were in touch for vetting.
Down the hill, as garda armed units whizzed pass, Eamon Thornton was more confident, with fresh livery on his van declaring: “President of America, Joe Biden, 12 April 2023, Welcome home to Whitestown.”
“When I met him back in 2016, he said to me: ‘I promise I will be back as president.’ And he will,” said Thornton brandishing a photo of himself with Biden touching the gravestone of one of his ancestors at Shellinghill cemetery, which is also expected to be visited on this whistle-stop Irish tour.
While expectations are high of the first presidential visit by Biden, it was understated compared with his previous visit in 2016 or when Bill Clinton visited in 2010.
“When Clinton came, it was all nailed on. You knew he was coming to this place, or that place,” said Bobby Moran, having an Easter Monday chat in McKeown’s bar 15 miles away in Dundalk where they are also expecting a presidential walkabout. “But this time there is nothing, no information.”
The muted nature of Biden’s trip reflects the logistical, security and political challenges the visit presented to the US secret service.
Earlier this year his trip looked like it would be cancelled amid concerns it could provoke further hostilities among hardline unionists who say Brexit has weakened the region’s place in the United Kingdom.
Once the revised Northern Ireland protocol, the Windsor framework, was sealed, the way was paved for a presidential visit.
But the US administration, working with Downing Street and Dublin, has deliberately kept the temperature cool to ensure there is no fallout to mar the celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement.
His message in Ulster University on Wednesday morning will be one of peace, reconciliation and the potential economic nirvana ahead if Northern Irelandcements peace with political stability.
There is no trip to Stormont, no walkabout at any of the many sites memorialising past conflicts, and Biden’s meeting with the prime minister is low-key – with a photo-call expected as late as 9.30pm at a Belfast hotel but no press conference.
Across the border, apparent plans to combine the Northern Ireland visit with a family vacation in County Mayo, where Biden has strong ancestral connections, also seem to have been scotched. Taking a foreign holiday while in office is highly unusual.
His itinerary now involves a two-night, three-day stay in Dublin with a one-day sortie to the west of Ireland town of Ballina, where he will speak on Friday night before returning to the US.
Back in Dundalk, landlord Pat McKeown is hoping they will not be let down. “We have had the gardai in twice, the streets have been cleaned and polished,” he said.
“They put a chemical wash on the footpath outside and have had the cleaning machines out ever since and we haven’t seen those for a year.
“But we haven’t a clue if he is coming here. When Clinton was here, I’d say it was bigger than St Patrick’s Day.”
“It will be great publicity for the town instead of being in the news for the wrong reasons,” said Judith Bradley, standing next to XXI ICE ice-cream shop, where Biden is rumoured to be likely to stop for a photoshoot.
Two gardai charged with checking the occupants of every premise on the street welcomed the visit.
“It’s a forgotten town really,” said one, recalling that the border town was once nicknamed “El Paso” because of its reputation for offering safe haven to the IRA.
“It’s a great achievement if he comes to Dundalk,” said Leah Searle. “It must be quite unique for a small town like this to have had visits from two sitting presidents.”
