Security tightens ahead of Joe Biden's visit to Ireland 

US Army chinook helicopters leave Dublin Airport on an apparent dry-run as preparations continue for the visit of Joe Biden. Picture: Damien Storan

US President Joe Biden will touch down in Belfast on Tuesday evening, with a tight security detail set to accompany him on a four-day trip to the island of Ireland.

Mr Biden, who Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has described as the "most Irish-American president since John F Kennedy", has roots in both Louth and Mayo, and will visit both counties throughout the week, as well as Dublin.

The week will begin with Mr Biden being greeted by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Belfast on Tuesday evening as he steps off Air Force One, before the two meet at a Belfast hotel on Wednesday morning. Mr Biden will then go to Ulster University to give an address marking 25 years since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.

After that event, Mr Biden is expected to travel to Louth, with suggestions that he will do walkabouts in both Carlingford and Dundalk. Mr Biden's great-great-grandfather was Owen Finnegan from the Cooley Peninsula in Co Louth who married Jean Boyle in 1839. 

Among Mr Biden’s relations still residing in Co Louth is local Councillor Andrea McKevitt who is the US president’s fifth cousin and David Kearney, the father of Irish rugby internationals Rob and Dave, who is also a fifth cousin.

Mr Biden is expected to arrive in Dublin on Wednesday evening, and spend the night at a city centre hotel.

On Thursday, he will head to the Phoenix Park and Áras an Uachtaráin, where he will meet with President Michael D Higgins and will plant a tree in the garden, as has become custom for visitors. He will then make the short trip down Chesterfield Avenue to Farmleigh, where he will meet Mr Varadkar. 

The two met at the White House just last month, a meeting the Taoiseach said last week was not a "damp squib" but a chance to reinforce Irish-American relations which, he says, have never been stronger.

Mr Biden will then head to Leinster House, where TDs and Senators have been recalled for an address by the president. Mr Biden will become the fourth president of the United States to address the Oireachtas, following John F Kennedy on June 28, 1963, Ronald Reagan on June 4, 1984, and Bill Clinton on December 1, 1995. That evening, there will be a State banquet in his honour at Dublin Castle.

On Friday, Mr Biden will head to Mayo, his other ancestral home. His other great-great-grandfather, Patrick Blewitt, was born in Ballina, leaving during the famine in 1850 to sail to America.

He will give a public speech at 8.30pm outside St Muredach’s Cathedral, which his ancestors played a part in building, before heading back to Dublin to return to Washington DC.

Gardaí said that Mr Biden will arrive and depart at Dublin Airport "at various times over the course of the visit". They said that normal operations will continue at Dublin Airport at all times, but travelling members of the public should allow additional time to arrive at the airport due to possible rolling road closures, particularly late Wednesday and early Friday.

The 46th president of the United States of America will arrive and depart at Ireland West Airport on the afternoon and evening of Friday and the same advice applies.

Dublin will see parking restrictions on Earlsfort Terrace, Leeson Street Lower, Hatch Street Lower, Castle Street, and Ship Street until Saturday and Earlsfort Terrace will be closed to traffic. The Phoenix Park will be closed to all access, traffic and pedestrians, from 5pm Wednesday to 5pm Thursday.

Specific details on further local road closures, parking restrictions and traffic diversions for Louth, Dublin, and Mayo will be published in the coming days.