US President Joe Biden has been invited to include Galway on his itinerary when he visits Ireland next week after a genealogist found links between his family and the county.

Megan Smolenyak said she has found another branch of cousins to the 46th US President, who has long-established family ties in Louth and Mayo.

“I’m an Irish American myself so I have always had an interest in high-profile individuals with Irish heritage. Way back when he was Vice President I decided to look into his roots to learn a bit more,” Ms Smolenyak told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.

“He’s famously proud of his Irish heritage so I was curious to learn the exact details - which family members [came to the US], when did they come and what was their backstory.

Ms Smolenyak said it was tricky to identify the newest members of Mr Biden’s ancestral linkage as it stretched back to the famine era when records created for those who emigrated to the US were “skimpy”.

You can read more in an article by Eoghan Moloney published in the Independent.ie web site at: https://tinyurl.com/mvrx6txy.