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Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Vice President Joe Biden to be honored in Irish America Hall of Fame -- Biden set to be main speaker at annual Irish America event

Posted on Wednesday, February 20, 2013 at 07:06 AM

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Vice President Joe Biden

Our sister publication Irish America magazine is delighted to announce that Vice President Joe Biden will be the main speaker and an honoree at the annual Irish America Hall of Fame event in March in New York.

The Irish America Hall of Fame was founded in 2010 by Irish America magazine to honor the extraordinary achievements of Irish American leaders.

Biden is of Irish descent on his maternal side of the family. His great-grandfather, James Finnegan, emigrated to America from Carlingford, Co. Louth in 1850.

He traveled with his mother Jane Boyle Finnegan from Carlingford and they boarded the ship the “Marchioness of Bute” in Newry, Co. Down according to top genealogist Megan Smolenyak.

His great grandfather incredibly was a near blind musician who made the crossing with the family when he was very young, just 10-years-old.

Read more: Could Joe Biden be the next President? Prospects for 2016 never brighter

As Smolenyak writes, “I knew from my research to this point that I was looking for a James Finnegan who was born around 1840 with parents named Owen Finnegan and Jane (Boyle) Finnegan, who would have probably married in the late 1830s, since James was the oldest of their known children.

“After a lot of digging, I found James ‘Finegan,’ baptized on December 18, 1840 in Lordship Parish in Co. Louth with parents named Owen Finegan and ‘Jean Bail’ (likely a distortion of Boyle due to factors such as poor penmanship or transcription errors, as Griffith's Valuation shows no Bail families). Owen ‘Finigan’ and Jane Boyle had married on December 8, 1839 in Cooley Parish in Co. Louth.”

Biden’s story is the story of America. From humble beginnings and ancestry in Co. Louth to the vice presidency of the United States, it is an amazing story.

In addition to Biden the 2013 inductees include art collector, entrepreneur and benefactor Brian Burns, businessman and philanthropist Robert M. Devlin, hotelier and humanitarian John Fitzpatrick who is the new chairman of the American Ireland Fund, and former Congressman Bruce Morrison, an esteemed lawyer and immigration reformer.

“Our Hall of Fame honors those who have excelled in their chosen fields while acknowledging that we stand on the shoulders of our ancestors – those brave Irish who took the first steps into the unknown so that their children might have a brighter future in America,” said co-founder and editor-in-chief Patricia Harty.

Read more: Joe Biden fast becoming most influential VP in history

In addition, a special presentation will be made to former U.S. ambassador to Ireland Jean Kennedy Smith, honoring her diplomatic work on peace in Northern Ireland and her furthering of the Kennedy family’s distinguished legacy of public service.

This year marks an important milestone in Kennedy history, as the 50th anniversary of both President John F. Kennedy’s seminal visit to Ireland, on which Kennedy Smith accompanied him, and of his tragic death.

The Irish America Hall of Fame celebrates its honorees’ diverse and significant contributions to American and Irish society, and their personal commitment to safeguarding their Irish heritage. The hall is housed at the Dunbrody Famine Ship and National Emigration Centre in New Ross, Co. Wexford, the ancestral town of President Kennedy.

Previous inductees include President Bill Clinton (2011), actresses Maureen O’Hara (2011) and Fionnula Flanagan (2012), dancer and choreographer Michael Flatley (2011), former Coca-Cola head Don Keough (2010) and executive chairman of Ford Motor Co. Bill Ford, Jr. (2011).

See more: Irish America Magazine , Irish in US Politics , Irish Democrats , Irish American

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FastEddy | Feb 20, 2013, 10:16 AM EST

Not a bad choice, really. He will put "foot in mouth" (again). ... BTW: VP Biden suggests the US citizenry arm themselves with shot guns for home defense (rather than machine guns). How goes gun control in Ireland?

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katieherk | Feb 20, 2013, 10:11 AM EST

Bad choice.... there are so many good people out there who deserve it. Next president? Sure, then we'll be gone as a country for ever. Why can you liberals not see what he and Nobama have done to this country and you still build them up? Ouch! And I agree with Dickmac, he is not an upstanding Catholic with his take on abortion. Wow, I'm forever astounded with your writers and liberalism!

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antoman | Feb 20, 2013, 09:54 AM EST

To quote Mr O'Dowd, "Biden’s story is the story of America. From humble beginnings and ancestry in Co. Louth to the vice presidency of the United States, it is an amazing story". Pretty much sums it up. The 'evergreen' Vice President Joe Biden. I say evergreen because I'm reminded of a picture of him with our previous President Mary McAleese where he is pictured whispering something into her ear and the expression on her face hints he may have said something naughty. :) More power to him.

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tbrowne34 | Feb 20, 2013, 09:41 AM EST

Biden has demonstrated time and again he doesn't have a grasp of basic story, economics or science. He would be an even greater embarrassment if not for a lapdog media that tamps down and hides his numerous gaffes. Case in point, Biden interview with faux journalist Katie Couric -Biden states the FDR got on tv when them stock market crashed in 1929. Sad,this buffoon is even considered for anything above dog catcher.

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jflanagan | Feb 20, 2013, 09:39 AM EST

He is a tightwad, unless it is other people's money. We don't need another phony philanthropist leading the country.

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dickmac | Feb 20, 2013, 09:19 AM EST

I do not agree with the decision. His very outspoken anti Catholic remarks tell me NO

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CavanAncestor | Feb 20, 2013, 08:55 AM EST

Better keep some pry bars around in case he sticks both feet in his mouth again. Presidential material? We'd be even a bigger joke around the world than his boss has made his now. Biden is the personification of the overly talkative, tipsy salesman you get seated next to when you wind up in a middle seat flying cross county.

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