An anticipated visit to Ireland this month by US vice president Joe Biden will not go ahead – because his diary’s too full.

But he is now expected to visit in either October or November, according to The Irish Independent.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny confirmed during his St. Patrick’s Day trip to Washington in March that Biden would visit this year and it was widely reported at the time that it would be in August after Kenny said he looked forward to taking the vice president on in “a little round of golf”.

But a US embassy spokesman has confirmed the August visit has been pushed back “due to the vice president’s diary”.

Biden is known to be immensely proud of his Finnegan family heritage in Co. Louth, but he also has links to Co. Mayo – also, the birthplace of the Taoiseach – and has frequently spoken over the years about his Irish roots.

In what is no doubt a further nod to his Irish ancestry, the US Secret Service’s original codename for Biden was ‘Celtic’.