Joe Biden has been presented with a brick from the home of his ancestors in Co Mayo.

The US President is on the final leg of his trip to Ireland, which will see him address a large crowd in Ballina.

During a visit to the North Mayo Heritage Centre earlier on Friday, he was given a brick from the original Blewitt family home.

President Biden's great-great-great grandfather, Edward Blewitt, left Ballina for the US during the Great Famine.

President Biden spoke with Ernie Caffrey and his daughter Miriam, whose family owns a shop on the site of the former Blewitt family home.

A mural of Joe Biden in his ancestral home of Ballina, Co Mayo in November 2020. Picture by: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

Mr Caffrey presented the US President with a brick from the house, enclosed in a case.

"It’s a 200 year old brick," President Biden said as he read an inscription on the case. "That's incredible," he added.

President Biden then walked around the area, including towards a group of people with a sign and a painting of him.

Shaking hands with the group and looking at the painting, President Biden remarked to one of the men: "Oh, I was in your bar".

Earlier he visited the Knock Shrine and had a chance meeting with Fr Frank O'Grady - the priest who performed the last rites on his late son, Beau Biden.

US President Joe Biden visiting Knock Shrine and Basilica in Co Mayo with Fr Richard Gibbons. Picture by: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

Fr Richard Gibbons, who showed President Biden around the shrine, said it was "quite an emotional day."

"It just so happened that we had a priest here who prayed with Beau before he died," Fr Gibbons explained.

"We came down to a seat and we knelt, and prayed a decade of the rosary together.

"Then I left him be; I said, 'Mr President, I'm going to leave you for a few moments of self-reflection' - and he said, 'Yeah I'd like that'.

"He was quite emotional at that point too. You can see it meant an awful lot to him," he added.

President Biden will address a large crowd in Ballina, before returning to Dublin Airport later where he will depart for the United States.

Main image: President of the United States Joe Biden signing the visitor book at Farmleigh prior to a meeting with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in Dublin in April 2023. Picture by: Government Information Service