Irish president’s dog Misneach BARKS at Biden when he tries to pet him during Dublin visit 

President Joe Biden received a warm welcome from Irish President Michael Higgins on Thursday. Less of his dog.

As the two leaders entered the grounds of the Irish president’s residence for a tree-planting ceremony, Higgins tried to introduce his American counterpart to Misneach, one of his huge Bernese Mountain Dogs.

But Misneach – named for the Irish word for “courage” – was having none of it.

While Biden moved in to show some love, the two-year-old did his best to disrupt American-Irish relations by barking at the president and backing off.

Social media users quickly took advantage of the moment, claiming that Misneach only responded to commands in Irish.

Or maybe it just knew the president’s history of inappropriately kissing and caressing everyone he meets.

It’s not the first time Misneach has stolen the show.

Two years ago, the then puppy nibbled on it Higgins’ hand to attention as the Irish president delivered a doleful message on the occasion of actor Tom Hickey’s death.

The brief altercation did not detract from Biden’s enthusiasm for his Irish host during his only full day in Dublin.

He signed his host’s guestbook with an Irish proverb, “Your feet will take you where your heart is,” and joked that he never wanted to go home.

Officials say Biden is having the time of his life getting back in touch with his Irish heritage.

But they also had to clean up Biden’s blunder when he confused the Black and Tans, a British force that brutally crushed Irish insurgents in the 1920s, with the New Zealand All Blacks rugby union team.

Rather, it almost threatened to overshadow his work in Belfast, when he carefully managed to walk a tightrope of sectarian sensibility with a well-received speech.

In Dublin, he arrived at the President’s residence a day later for a formal welcome.

Hunter, 53, arrived first, holding hands with his aunt Valerie, 77.

Then the Beast stopped. Biden was greeted by Irish President Michael Higgins before going inside to sign the guestbook.

“I’m not going home,” a beaming Biden said. ‘I will stay here

“These are incredible American reporters, aren’t they? Like the White House, right?’

He and the Irish president fended off shouted questions about a major security breach that is rocking Washington.

The visit resumed outside, where Biden rang a “peace bell” forged for the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement that ended decades of conflict on the island of Ireland.

And he followed in the footsteps of other VIP visitors by planting a tree in the soil of Aras an Uachtarain, as the residence of the Irish president is called.

From there it went on to a meeting with Leo Varadkar, the Irish Prime Minister or Taoiseach.

Varadkar praised his guest for his leadership in the war in Ukraine.

“Democracy and freedom and the things we believe in are in retreat, or in retreat, in much of the world, and if it weren’t for American leadership, and if America and Europe didn’t work together, I don’t know what for world we would live,” he said.

Biden, who met with the Irish leader in Washington on St. Patrick’s Day, praised Irish values ​​and the country’s acceptance of thousands of Ukrainian refugees as he spoke of an “ever-strengthening relationship” between the US and Ireland.

The day before he gave a speech about his Irish roots, but when he praised a rugby-playing cousin, he had called the New Zealand rugby team ‘the Black and Tans’, the feared British security force.

“I think it was incredibly clear to anyone in Ireland who was a rugby fan that the president was talking about the All Blacks and Ireland’s defeat to the New Zealand team in 2016,” said Amanda Sloat, senior National Security Director for Europe, during a morning briefing.

The misstep threatened to overshadow Biden’s cross-border activities a day earlier, when he had to walk the thin line to keep Northern Ireland’s Protestant and Catholic communities happy.

But the reference to the hated British force soon infuriated pro-London trade unionists in the north.

The White House has even released the official transcript of the event at a restaurant in Dundalk, Co. Louth cleaned up, breaking the words ‘Black and Tans’.

“He was a great rugby player, and he hit the hell out of the box [All Blacks],” read the account of his comments about his cousin Rob Kearney, who was part of a team that beat New Zealand in Chicago in 2016.

He had even claimed, in added comments, that Kearney beat up the Black and Tans.

The Black and Tans were a British auxiliary force deployed a century ago during the Irish War of Independence.

They became notorious for their brutality against Republicans, Catholics and anyone who stood in their way.

The force was responsible for shooting 14 people and wounding 60 others during a Gaelic football match at Croke Park in Dublin in 1920.

Biden has spoken of learning stories of their fame from his anti-British great-aunt Gertie.

And his slip of the tongue was quickly taken as another sign that Biden is hostile to the UK.

It almost took the shine off a decent day’s work from Biden. He arrived in Belfast in the midst of a political deadlock, with trade unionists worried that such a pro-Irish president did not understand their position.

Instead, he used a speech at the University of Ulster to highlight his British roots and say that politics in Northern Ireland was a matter for the people of Northern Ireland.

“We’ve had incredibly positive feedback from all communities and political parties there,” Sloat said.

“I think it’s a very important message that the president can convey to the people of Northern Ireland.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden “had the time of his life” later in the day as he crossed the border and met relatives in Co. Louth.

Thursday is a day of official business: meetings with the Irish President and Prime Minister, followed by a speech to the Irish Parliament.

That makes him the fourth president to address a joint session of the Irish parliament, after Kennedy in 1963, Ronald Reagan in 1984 and Bill Clinton in 1995.

Officials said the speech will focus on “cooperation between the US to promote democracy, peace, security and prosperity, as well as the profound shared history between the US and Ireland.”

This is followed by a state banquet at Dublin Castle.

Fridays are more family time. Biden will travel west to see family in Ballina, County Mayo, and deliver a speech to an expected crowd of about 20,000.