Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby, 11-13 Apr ancestral home itinerary

MR. KIRBY:  Thank you, Karine.

Afternoon, everybody. So, as Karine just mentioned, the President is traveling to the United Kingdom and Ireland this week. And as I think you all also know, he's very excited for this trip and has been now for quite some time.

Tomorrow [11 Apr] he will depart for Belfast, where he'll be greeted upon arrival at the airport by Prime Minister Sunak, who he also just saw last month in San Diego at the AUKUS announcement.

On Wednesday, President Biden will meet with Prime Minister Sunak bilaterally.  From there, President Biden will head to Ulster University to deliver remarks marking the tremendous progress since the signing of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement 25 years ago.  And he'll underscore the readiness of the United States to preserve those gains and support Northern Ireland's vast economic potential to the benefit of all communities.
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Ulster U. (NI), Co. Louth (IE), Dublin (IE), Co. Mayo (IE)

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He will then deliver remarks at St. Muredach's Cathedral, which his great-great-grandfather -- great-great-great-grandfather -- sorry -- Edward Blewitt sold 27,000 bricks to in 1827. Those bricks were used to construct and support the great cathedral and helped Edward afford to buy tickets for himself and for his family to sail together to America decades later in 1851.

< wipes tears >
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Despite his French surname and hailing from Pennsylvania, settled by German colonists, Biden claims Irish ancestry and Roman Catholic faith.

But British domestic intelligence agency MI5 has already uncovered a bomb plot by Irish Republican Army splinter group the New IRA. The US president will travel with a huge Secret Service security detail, reportedly packing an arsenal of over 300 firearms and a motorcade of up to 40 bullet-poof cars. Biden will be welcomed to the city by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak -- whose name he has repeatedly mispronounced as "Rashid Sunook."
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The President is very much looking forward to that trip, again, and to celebrating the deep, historic ties that our two countries and our two people continue to share.

With that, I'll take some questions.
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The kernal of Politico and *.eu.com feature stories is: "Northern Ireland has for nearly a year had no elected government at Stormont".