U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday hosted visiting Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, who assured the U.S. president his debt-ridden country would make an economic recovery. Speaking at the White House alongside the Irish leader, President Obama expressed confidence in Kenney's government, saying he believed it would be able "to get Ireland moving again." The U.S. president said the two leaders also discussed the larger issue of European growth, which president Obama said would have a positive impact on the U.S. economy. Kenny said there are "signs of confidence" emerging from the Irish economy, which is struggling to reverse 14.4 percent unemployment, slow a renewed wave of emigration, and rebuild a battered credit rating that forced the country to negotiate a 2010 rescue. President Obama thanked the Irish people for the warm welcome he received when he visited Ireland last year and pledged to return. President Obama and Kenny, along with U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden, were scheduled to attend a lunch at the Capitol later Tuesday. President Obama and his wife also planned to host a reception for Kenny at the White House in the evening.
