[kxd]

Obama visited Ireland in 2011. I remember the Clinton visit in the '90s. Both shut the city down and increased the presence of security forces everywhere. I worked in the city centre at the time and it was chaos for a few days.

Making matters worse was the fact that a week or two prior the Queen visited (arguably a more important state visit, for historical reasons). So in effect, for about three weeks, Dublin was hell to commute in.

[ckinnan]

Fun fact -- the Reagan Library in California bought and sort of rebuilt the Irish tavern that the president visited in the 1980s. You can even buy a beer there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyJ5qJcHUNA