Joe Biden makes rare public appearance at Irish college to see drug addict son Hunter awarded for 'outstanding contribution to public discourse'

Former US president Joe Biden has today made a rare public appearance in Ireland. Mr Biden attended Trinity College Dublin, where his son, Hunter, who has struggled with severe alcohol and crack cocaine substance abuse, was given an honorary award. The former attorney and artist received a gold medal from the College of Historical Society, known as The Hist, for his Outstanding Contribution to Public Discourse. On Instagram, the Hist said: 'To a society like the Hist, Biden's recent advocacy on the state of American politics and media as well as for matters of addiction and recovery make him a commendable figure.' Joe, 83, and his wife, the former first lady, Jill, were welcomed with applause from the crowd. They were then pictured in the front row of the exam hall in Trinity College.The appearance comes after the former president revealed this month that he will have to scale back promotional appearances for his upcoming memoir, entitled Promise Me, America, as he continues to battle prostate cancer. Joe revealed his cancer diagnosis in May last year, less than four years after he left the White House.During his address on Tuesday, an emotional Hunter reflected on his struggle with substance abuse. Former US president Joe Biden (centre right) and Hunter Biden (centre left) was pictured todat at the College Historical Society in Trinity College Dublin Hunter was pictured introducing his father to others Trinity College Dublin Joe waved at photographers outside the College Historical Society in Dublin on TuesdayIn 2024, Joe issued an official pardon for Hunter, 56, which meant he would avoid jail in two separate criminal cases. But Joe's decision was hit with controversy, with current US President Donald Trump calling it 'such an abuse and miscarriage of justice'. In June that year, Hunter was found guilty of three criminal charges in a blockbuster gun and drugs trial. The conviction carried a maximum of 25 years, but it was expected that he would face a shorter sentence of up to 16 months. He became the first child of a sitting US president to be convicted of a felony. A jury in Wilmington, Delaware unanimously convicted Hunter of two counts of lying on a federal government form to buy a gun, and one count of possessing the firearm while abusing drugs.During the trial the jury heard that Hunter bought a 38-caliber Colt Cobra revolver from a gun store not far from Joe Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware on October 12, 2018.In doing so he was required to fill out a form and checked a box saying he was not a drug user. Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden's son, accompanied by his mother, first lady Jill Biden and his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, walks out of federal court after hearing the verdict, Tuesday, June 11, 2024, in Wilmington, Del Hunter Biden's computer hard drive, which was abandoned at a repair shop and leaked to the media, included images of the president's son smoking from a crack pipe A television monitor shows the verdict in the Hunter Biden trial in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, June 11, 2024The prosecution devoted much of the trial to highlighting how Hunter was in fact heavily using crack at the time.Jurors heard from key witness Hallie Biden, the widow of Hunter's late brother Beau. Hallie and Hunter had a romantic relationship after Beau's death in 2015. Hallie told the court she had also taken crack, that she had been with Hunter at times when he bought the drug, and that she was 'ashamed' about her own use of it.Jurors saw images of the president's son bare-chested and dishevelled in a filthy room, and half-naked holding crack pipes.They also watched video of his crack cocaine being weighed on a scale.Hunter did not testify but jurors heard his voice when prosecutors played audio excerpts of his 2021 memoir, Beautiful Things, in which he talks about hitting bottom after the death of his brother, and his descent into drugs before eventually achieving sobriety.Prosecutors said Hunter was in the throes of crack addiction when he bought the gun and therefore lied when he checked 'no' on the form.Hunter lawyers argued that he did not consider himself an 'addict' when he bought the gun and had been to rehab in Los Angeles two months earlier, in August 2018. President Joe Biden hugs his son Hunter Biden at Delaware Air National Guard Base in New Castle, Delaware, on June 11, 2024, hours after Hunter became the first child of a sitting US president to be convicted of a felony Photos on Hunter's abandoned laptop dated September, 30 2018 show him parading in barely-there white underwear and a red scarf at a party in a rented Hollywood house A picture submitted as evidence submitted against Hunter Biden by the prosecutionMeanwhile, in a separate case in September 2024, Hunter pleaded guilty to nine federal charges of falsifying records and failing to file tax returns. For this, he faced up to 17 years in prison.But his father wiped both his convictions. The trials came after Hunter revealed in 2021 how his father staged an intervention to get him to give up drugs the year before, during the Presidential election. In two interview's with CBS, he described how his father, then 77, chased him down the driveway of their Wilmington, Delaware, home, in front of Hunter's daughters, to stop him from getting in the car.Hunter did not say when it was specifically but admits it was during the campaign, in 2020. In one of the interview's, he added he was smoking crack 'around the clock' and drinking a quart of vodka every day at the lowest points of his drug addiction which he says stems from the death of his mother and sister when he was two.He also spoke about his controversial affair with his late brother Beau's widow, Hallie, and how the pair of them thought their shared love and grief would 'bring him back' but that it 'didn't work'. Hunter is pictured during his interview with CBS This Morning aired in April 2021Hunter, then-51, also described meeting his current wife, Melissa, and marrying her within seven days of their first date. He says she is a 'miracle' and that she saved his life.He claims to have been sober for seven years, from 2008 until 2015, after battling drug and alcohol addiction his entire life. His brother Beau's death in 2015, he says, sent him hurtling back into addiction.It all comes from an unresolved feeling of 'not fitting in', he said, that he thinks is from the trauma of losing his mom, Neilia, and sister Naomi, in a car crash when he was two in 1972. Hunter and Beau both survived the accident.'I am more convinced now that trauma is at the center of it. I don't know why I had such a hard time ever admitting that. There's a lot of research that points to the idea that addicts who suffer from addiction suffered from trauma.'Beau and I never grieved the loss of our mother and sister. We talked about my mom all the time, but the accident no. The darkness that I know my dad suffered isn't something we talked about until much later. This is why I don't want to admit... we probably should have. I think they were trying to protect us,' he said.As a young adult, he said he slipped into a period that was a 'blur of complete debauchery'.'Drinking a quart of vodka a day by yourself is absolutely completely debilitating... smoking crack around the clock, drinking insanely lethal amounts of alcohol,' he said.READ MORE:Biden says cancer battle will limit his book promotion in health update before upcoming memoir releaseHunter Biden's stripper baby mama asks for him to be ARRESTED over claims he is still failing to pay her child support