Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney 'back home' on two-day visit to Ireland

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has begun an official two-day visit to the Republic of Ireland.

He and his wife Diana Fox Carney arrived at Dublin Airport at about 10:00 local time and met Taoiseach (Irish PM) Micheál Martin.

It is the first bilateral visit to the country by a Canadian prime minister since Justin Trudeau's in 2017.

Gardaí (Irish police) said the impact on traffic will be "localised and minimal," but there will be temporary rolling road closures to facilitate events and security escorts over the course of Saturday.

Carney will visit Dublin and County Mayo on the trip.

On Saturday, the prime minister and taoiseach held a one-on-one engagement and joint press conference at Government Buildings.

At the press conference, Martin said the visit would be an opportunity for Carney "to celebrate and explore his Irish heritage".

"I know I speak for the people of Mayo, and indeed for the Irish people more broadly, when I say that we are deeply honoured to welcome him back."

Martin added that it would be an "excellent occasion to celebrate and strengthen the bilateral relationship between Ireland and Canada".

Carney said: "Micheál, thank you for welcoming me back home.

"It is a true pleasure to return to Dublin, and an honour to be the first Canadian prime minister in a decade to be making an official visit here."

The two leaders also announced a new "bilateral co-operation framework" on trade and investment, life sciences, research and innovation, and security and defence.

On Saturday afternoon, Carney gave a speech at Trinity College, where he said that global conflicts were expanding and evolving, and Canada, Ireland, and Europe were "increasingly and immediately vulnerable to once-distant threats".

However, the prime minister said that both Ireland and Canada were well-placed to be a force for good by working together.

Carney was later hosted at a gala dinner in Dublin Castle.

He told those in attendance that Canada, Ireland and Europe stood at the threshold of a "rupture in the global system".

Delivering a toast, he said: "A blessing to the kinship between the Irish and Canadian people, may we always meet each other at the threshold and cross it together."

The taoiseach also gave a speech at the dinner and said Ireland and Canada enjoyed "a thriving and prosperous relationship".

"In the most unpredictable of global environments, we recognise that we have a opportunity to forge new and powerful ties between Ireland and Canada and Europe," he added.

On Sunday Carney will travel to County Mayo, in the west of the country, to visit the home of his paternal grandparents in Aghagower.