Joe Biden is a lovely Southern gentleman says Northern Ireland woman who had lunch with him in Washington

​Plans are well underway for US President Joe Biden’s visit to Northern Ireland next week.
By Graeme Cousins
Published 7th Apr 2023, 20:43 BST
Updated 7th Apr 2023, 21:24 BST
Geraldine O’Doherty, while a University of Ulster student, was on placement as an intern at the US Department of Foreign Affairs in 1986. Photo: George Sweeney. DER2314GS – 08Geraldine O’Doherty, while a University of Ulster student, was on placement as an intern at the US Department of Foreign Affairs in 1986. Photo: George Sweeney. DER2314GS – 08
Geraldine O’Doherty, while a University of Ulster student, was on placement as an intern at the US Department of Foreign Affairs in 1986. Photo: George Sweeney. DER2314GS – 08

​His security team will already have been in the Province for a week before Mr Biden arrives on Tuesday night and those who will be meeting him have been briefed on the dos and donts.

Although he won’t be spending a lot of time in Northern Ireland – and is only likely to visit one location – the new campus of Ulster University in Belfast – his presence is nonetheless highly anticipated.

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One person from Northern Ireland who has already met Mr Biden is Londonderry woman Geraldine O’Doherty.

Geraldine O’Doherty’s US government, Department of Foreign Affairs ID card. DER2314GS – 11Geraldine O’Doherty’s US government, Department of Foreign Affairs ID card. DER2314GS – 11
Geraldine O’Doherty’s US government, Department of Foreign Affairs ID card. DER2314GS – 11

In 1986, when she was in in her early 30s, studying Irish history and politics in Ulster University Magee, she was offered the opportunity of a lifetime to do a summer internship in Washington.

She recalled: "I worked in the Foreign Relations Department with two women, one of them wrote all the speeches for Senator Eagleton and they were really hard-nosed New Yorkers, which I liked because I was able to work well with them being the Derry girl that I was.

“Joe Biden was on the Irish Foreign Relations Committee and he would meet me when we were attending the committee meetings. I tended to keep my distance because I respected their political positions.

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"I was invited out to lunch with Senator Eagleton and Joe Biden to a fancy restaurant in Massachusetts Avenue and we had the best of craic together.

"On a personal level, Joe was then how he is now; a lovely Southern gentleman, polite, very articulate and very, very sharp, with a great sense of humour.”

Related topics:Joe BidenNorthern IrelandWashingtonProvince