Barack Obama To Explore His Irish Roots
By Vicki Hawthorne, Ireland correspondent | Sky News
The Queen has just left but now President Barack Obama is visiting Ireland, ahead of his state visit to the UK.
His trip to the Emerald Isle on Monday is being seen as a boost to the country amid all its economic woes, but it is also a chance for the US President to look up some family.
As well as undertaking diplomatic engagements in Dublin he is expected to travel to Moneygall in County Offaly, which prides itself as being an ancestral home of the 49-year-old.
The President's great-great-great-grandfather Falmouth Kearney was a shoemaker and lived in the rural village.
There's no doubt Americans love to have an Irish connection, and the Irish are loving this particular link-up too.
Local church records detail President Obama's family ties to Moneygall.
Records show that Mr Obama's great-great-great grandfather was born in Ireland in 1831 and left for America in 1850.
When the ancestral link was first revealed four years ago, the news was met with initial scepticism.
But the villagers shrugged off the jokes and are now about to reap the rewards of a presidential visit.
Moneygall resident Henry Healy has traced a family connection and is an eighth cousin to Mr Obama.
Mr Healy said: "It's always been surreal but now again it is becoming more and more of a reality.
"On the day he walks down the pavements of this village hopefully I will get to shake his hand and it will definitely be very real that day."
The entire village has received a fresh coat of paint, with one resident going as far as to paint the American flag on the front of his home.
The pavements have also been replaced and fresh flowers are being planted in doorways.
Moneygall school principal Eugene Ryan said: "This connection was found out in 2007 and it has been brilliant for the whole community.
"I think it has resurrected the kind of parish and community spirit that may be was always there but maybe was dormant for a while."
A bust of Mr Obama already sits proudly on the bar of the village pub and pictures have adorned their walls since he was elected into office.
Pub owner Majella Hayes said he can be sure of a warm welcome when he stops off for a tour during his short stay in Ireland.
She said: "There's absolutely great excitement, it's a kind of a feeling of something unreal happening because we just never imagined this would happen in anyone's lifetime and it's a huge thing.
"And as we say here we are living history at the moment and it's brilliant."
President Obama has put Moneygall on the map and the villagers are putting him on t-shirts, which are for sale on the main street.
Some have a picture of the president holding a pint of Guinness, one simply says: "What's the craic Barack?"
This visit is not only about celebrating a seemingly unlikely family history, but it's also about giving a rural village and a country a much needed boost.
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Yes, well I have to say that he definitely looks Irish to me, but then again I don’t get my new glasses until Wednesday next week.
It always surprises me that no American originated from England, Why is that?
Be well IAN2411
