Joe Biden tells audience: 'I visited Ireland to deter the Brits from screwing around'

He did not elaborate on what he meant, except to say his remarks were about the “Irish Accords” and ensuring Britain “didn’t walk away from their commitments”.

He made the comments at a Democratic National Committee reception event at a private home in New York on Wednesday.

Mr Biden has become well-known for his difficulties with public speaking.

His Irish visit began with a speech in Belfast on April 12 where he sounded barely audible for much of the first half, even to media stood directly in front of the podium, before suddenly leaping in volume midway through his address.

You can hear his full remarks and judge for yourself here

He then got mixed up between the black-and-tans 1920s militia and the All Blacks rugby team during another speech.

Mr Biden also ended an address in Dublin by telling his audience: “Thank you all, God bless you all.

“And let’s go, let’s go – la, lick the world!”

Details here:

DUP MP voices doubts about mental capacity of Joe Biden as US president confirms bid for second term shortly after trip to Ireland

Then, on April 27, less than two weeks after his trip, he was asked at a White House event what the last country he visited was.

He couldn’t remember, until a child reminded him it was Ireland.

Here is the White House’s official transcript of his remarks on Wednesday (our emphasis):

"Look, one of the things that I think is — I was raised in a family that I don’t think the fundamental principles that — that we were taught are any different if my mom had been — had been “Bidenopoulos” instead of Finnegan.

“She taught us that — and I mean this sincerely; I mean it from the bottom of my heart, and Father knows this. My mother used to say, ‘Joey, nobody is better than you, and everyone is your equal.’

"No — and if anything went down, ‘Just get up, Joe. Just get up. Never bend. Never bow.’ Real simple propositions with my mom. And she was a sweet woman, and butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth except if you crossed one of her kids.

“But all kidding aside, the basic fundamental values that I find is that most ethnic communities are similar.

“And one of the things — I got to go back — not what I had planned on talking about, but I got to go back to Ireland for the — for the — the Irish Accords, to make sure they weren’t — the Brits didn’t screw around and Northern Ireland didn’t walk away from their commitments.

“And I went back to my — my mother’s mother’s ancestral home in Ballina, which is in County Mayo in Ireland.

“And at 9:50 — 9:15, on a rainy night on the River Moy, in front of a cathedral, which it turned out they went back and dug up records showing my great-great-grandfather provided the bricks to build this — the — to hold up the steeple at — there were somewhere between 28- and 40,000 people in the rain standing there.”

More from this reporter:

• Arlene Foster launches fresh attack on Joe Biden saying as soon as he's off-script 'he reverts to Irish nationalist type'