President Biden visits Dundalk deli – but what did he buy?

A Dundalk deli had the privilege of welcoming President Biden during his visit to the town last week (13th April).

The 80-year-old stopped off at McAteers The Food House, a gourmet food store and deli, during his walk about and bought some sweet treats.

The shop’s owner Jerome McAteer told The Irish Examiner that Biden bought a lemon meringue, chocolate eclairs, bread and butter pudding, pear and almond cake, and a mug with an image of a dog on it.

Jerome said Mr Biden took time to speak to staff members and he also “took a shine” to his mother.

“He talked to all the staff, took lots of selfies.

“My mom was here, he took a shine to her, kept holding her hand, we were all getting a bit jealous, it was really funny.”

Mr Biden and Jerome spoke about their shared love of rescue dogs.

“We do a lot of work with Dundalk Dog Rescue, and he is big into rescuing dogs, so we talked a lot about dog rescues and stuff.

Jerome described how Mr Biden did not rush his visit and when urged by members of his entourage to finish with proceedings, he didn’t seem keen to leave.

“He just kept talking to people. They kept wanting to go but he said ‘no, I want to stay, I want to stay.’

“He was so at ease with himself and with everybody… as soon as he came through the door, he went up to Patricia who works behind the shop at the front and he said ‘give me your phone Patricia’ and he started taking selfies and that was it, he set the tone for everything.”

He paid with a €50 note and gave a €10 euro tip to some of the workers who have special needs.

Jerome said: “He was talking a lot about his Irish background.”

When asked if the president was how he expected, the shop owner replied: “He was taller, he was younger looking, he had amazing teeth. He has just a really easy manner and he was absolutely brilliant with the special needs kids.”