Joe Biden's life has been less than ordinary

JOE Biden was a no-show last year, so US president Barack Obama’s confirmation last week that his vice-president plans to visit Ireland may not have set the political world on fire.

But Biden is not just another sentimental, if powerful, Irish-American visitor.

While he appears the quintessentially sunny American leader, Biden has been steeled by family tragedy and once said it made him understand how people can contemplate suicide.