US President Joe Biden will visit Ireland in 2023, the US ambassador to Ireland has said.
Claire Cronin was speaking to Newstalk's Henry McKean for The Hard Shoulder as part of her 'Open Doors' policy.
This is where she invites people into the Deerfield Residence - the home of the US Ambassador - at Dublin's Phoenix Park.
Ambassador Cronin said President Biden will be visiting Irish shores next year.
"I have no doubt that President Biden will be coming to Ireland at some point in 2023," she said.
"I don't know when, but he has expressed a strong desire to do so, but I have no clue when that might be."
US Ambassador to Ireland Claire Cronin and Newstalk's Henry McKean at Deerfield Residence in Dublin's Phoenix Park. Picture by: Henry McKean/NewstalkShe said she has made it her mission to get to know Ireland better.
"When I came here, as much as I absolutely adore living in Dublin and love Dublin, there's a greater country to see here as well," she said.
"So I made a challenge to myself that I would visit all 26 counties before I went home for my summer holiday in August - and I was able to do that.
"I've also been to Belfast - so I've been in the North - but now I'm going to just keep going back doing that again.
"Last week or the week before I was in Waterford, that was my third visit there, Galway twice.
"Every day and every way I'm going to get out and visit the rest of this country and meet the people.
"Hopefully by doing that work, we'll continue to strengthen the already strong and robust relationship between our two countries," she added.
Joe Biden meets President Michael D Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin during a visit to Ireland as US Vice-President in 2016. Picture by: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ieIn March, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said President Biden was 'anxious' to come to Ireland.
“We didn’t get any specifics on that [the date], but he is anxious to come to Ireland and I think when the opportunity arises I think he’ll take that opportunity,” Mr Martin said.
The Biden family connection to Ireland is distant but still strongly felt.
The US President's great-great grandparents left Mayo and Louth for America on coffin ships, and memories of the old country have been passed down through the generations.
"I inherited my mother’s side of the family’s overwhelming pride - overwhelming pride in being Irish,” Mr Biden has said previously.
"A pride that spoke to both continents’ heart and soul, and drew from the old and the new."
Mr Biden previously visited Ireland as US Vice-President under Barack Obama in 2016.
Listen back to Ambassador Cronin's full interview below:
