Videos of Joe Biden Cheered by Massive Crowd in Ireland Go Viral

Videos showing President Joe Biden being cheered by a massive crowd in Ireland has gone viral on social media.

Biden visited Ireland this week for a trip commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement that ended The Troubles, a nationalist conflict in Ireland that spanned from the 1960s to 1990s. In addition to Biden's official business, the trip was also defined by the president's own personal heritage and connections to the country. Biden is the second Irish-Catholic president, following John F. Kennedy, to visit Ireland.

He delivered remarks at St. Muredach's Cathedral in Ballina, a small town of roughly 10,000 people in northwestern Ireland on Friday night. According to the Associated Press, more than 27,000 people showed up to Biden's speech—more than double the town's population.

Videos online show Biden walk onto the stage, flanked by both the Irish and American flag, to festive traditional Irish music. Thousands of people are seen cheering and waving flags as he prepared to speak.

Irish broadcaster RTÉ News tweeted a video of the crowd's response to the president, describing their cheers as "a rapturous welcome."

That video had been viewed more than 2.9 million times on Twitter by early Saturday afternoon. Other videos online of the cheering also racked up hundreds of thousands of views.

During his speech, Biden highlighted his Irish heritage, as well as his ties to Ballina, the birthplace of Biden's great-great-great grandfather Edward Blewitt. Blewitt helped on the construction of St. Muredach's Cathedral, according to Reuters.

"The truth of it is, being here does feel... it feels like coming home. It really does. Over the years, stories of this place have become part of my soul, part of my family lore," Biden said. "It was here where I imagine my great-great-great-grandfather took shade under yew trees after a long day at the brickyard."

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported that people traveled from all over Ireland to watch the president's speech.

The response to Biden in Ireland contrasted from his popularity at home. Biden's presidential tenure has long been marred by low approval ratings—though his approval has increased in some recent polls—and many Americans, including some Democrats, have said they do not want him to run for president again in 2024.

Not all of Ireland responded with cheers to Biden's visit to their country. Some left-wing lawmakers boycotted his speech to the Irish parliament over their criticisms against U.S. foreign policy.

Still, Biden was generally met with a warm welcome during his visit, where his appearances drew massive crowds and prompted major security operations. Earlier in the trip, the president quipped that he would not want to leave Ireland at its conclusion, the AP reported.

"When you're here, you wonder why anyone would ever want to leave," he said.

Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment via email.