US President Joe Biden arrives in Carlingford

US President Joe Biden has begun his first engagement south of the border with a trip to the Cooley Peninsula in Co Louth.

Mr Biden arrived at Carlingford Castle in US presidential car The Beast, greeted by Irish deputy premier Micheal Martin.

Crowds of locals who had lined the streets cheered as his motorcade arrived, with some waving US flags. Some had braved the bad weather for hours in the hope of catching a glimpse of the US President.

Mr Biden was due to travel by helicopter from Dublin to Cooley Kickhams Gaelic Football Club, near the castle, but the plan was scrapped due to bad weather. A visit to Kilwirra Cemetery, where his ancestors are buried, was also ruled out last minute due to the wet weather.

President Biden has toured Carlingford Castle along with Tanaiste and Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin.

The castle offers a view of Carlingford Lough where Mr Biden’s great-great grandfather Owen Finnegan left via Newry port during the Irish famine in 1849 for a new life in the United States.

As Mr Biden walked around the castle amid the rain, someone shouted up to ask him what he thought of the weather, to which the president quipped: “It’s fine, it’s Ireland.”