The US President Joe Biden has said it is a "pleasure to be back" as he met the Irish President Michael D Higgins in Dublin.

He will spend most of Thursday in the company of leading Irish politicians.

He started his working day with a visit to Áras an Uachtaráin - the home of the Irish president in Phoenix Park.

President Biden is inspecting a military guard of honour, and has signed the visitors' book.

He will also plant an oak tree to mark the occasion and ring the Bell of Peace.

The bell was erected in 2008 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

Mr Biden said he had quoted an Irish proverb, in his message in the visitors' book - "your feet will bring you where your heart is", adding that it was "an honour to return".

He made a reference to returning to the home of his ancestors, pledging to recommit to peace, equity and dignity.

Mr Biden added: "I'm not going home. Isn't this an incredible place, all you American reporters, it's just like the White House, right?"

A delegation attending the event includes Tánaiste (Irish deputy prime minister) Micheál Martin, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and former Irish football star Paul McGrath.

President Biden's visit to Ireland will then continue with set-piece engagements, including an address to the Irish parliament.

His visit to the Republic of Ireland encompasses both the personal and the political.

On Wednesday evening it was all about the personal.

President Biden visited both Dundalk and his ancestral roots in the town of Carlingford in County Louth.

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Mr Biden met distant relatives in the Cooley Peninsula, where crowds lined the quayside as the presidential motorcade arrived.

Later in Dundalk, there were shouts of "welcome home, Joe" when Mr Biden arrived to address an audience at the town's Windsor Bar.

There he said Irish people were the "only people in the world in my view who are actually nostalgic about the future".

A major security operation is also under way in the Republic of Ireland's capital, with a number of city centre roads closed.

Polythene wraps have also been placed around bins along the route the US president will take.

Phoenix Park has been shut until 17:00 local time on Thursday, with pavements near Dublin Castle shut for pedestrians until midnight on Friday.

In contrast to his rain-soaked arrival on Wednesday, Mr Biden looks set to see a much brighter day in Dublin with temperatures around 12C (54F).

Irish roots

After his meeting with the Irish president, President Biden is expected to travel the short distance to Farmleigh House where he will have a bilateral with the Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Leo Varadkar.

Mr Biden will then be given a sample of Gaelic sports with a demonstration by young players before travelling to Leinster House to address both houses of the Oireachtas (Parliament) - the Dáil and the Seanad (Senate).

His speech is expected to emphasise both his pride in his Irish roots and American support for the Good Friday Agreement - which is 25 years old this week.

Former Irish president Mary McAleese, former taoiseach Bertie Ahern and some Stormont party leaders are among those expected to attend.

Marie Heaney, the widow of the late poet Seamus Heaney, will be a special guest of the US President, Irish national broadcaster RTÉ reports.

"He was most anxious that she would be present as part of his delegation because we know he is absolutely besotted by the work of Seamus Heaney and has quoted him extensively," Ceann Comhairle (speaker) Seán Ó Feargháil said.

After his speech, President Biden will be the evening guest of honour at a state function in Dublin Castle, the former seat of British power in Ireland.

'We call him a local'

Despite the rain, people lined the streets of Carlingford to welcome the US President back to Ireland - among them, distant relatives.

Eamonn Thornton celebrates Mr Biden's Irish ancestry with "From Whitestown, County Louth to the White House, Washington," emblazoned on the back of his white van.

"His Irishness has stood to him - he's a down-to-earth man," he told BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme.

Mr Thornton met his relative, who he calls a local, during one of his last visits.

"When he was here the last time, he just came in and welcomed everyone, very emotional having visited the grave of his great-great grandparents.

"For him to be at the graveyard touching the headstone of his relations, who would ever have thought that would happen to a local?"

Mr Thornton is convinced his relative is keen for another four years at the White House.

"His age is against him, but he has the Irish spirit in him and that's as good as seven points on the football field."

On Wednesday he met political leaders in Northern Ireland at the new Ulster University Belfast campus.

He called for politicians to restore the power-sharing government at Stormont, which collapsed more than a year ago.

He praised politicians for their unity after the attempted murder of one of Northern Ireland's top detectives in February.

John Caldwell was shot several times by two gunmen in Omagh, County Tyrone.

On Friday, the US President is expected to travel to County Mayo where he will again explore his Irish ancestry.

Another great-great grandfather Edward Blewitt also left Ireland around the time of the famine.

While in the county the President, who is a Catholic, is also expected to visit shrine at Knock and to make an outdoor speech to people in Ballina before he ends his four day visit to the island.

A US genealogist who researched Mr Biden's lineage had estimated he is "roughly five-eighths" Irish.

His great-great grandfather Owen Finnegan left there for America in the late 1840s.

Declan Harvey and Tara Mills explore the text of the Good Friday Agreement - the deal which heralded the end of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

They look at what the agreement actually said and hear from some of the people who helped get the deal across the line.

Listen to all episodes of Year '98: The Making of the Good Friday Agreement on BBC Sounds.