Obama on his way ‘home’ to begin European tour

DUBLIN – US President Barack Obama was Monday to kick off a major European tour in the Republic of Ireland, where he will make a flying visit to the home of his great-great-great grandfather.

Obama is making a 24-hour trip to the Emerald Isle and is to round off the day with a speech to tens of thousands in Dublin’s College Green road, where one of his Democratic predecessors Bill Clinton gave an address in 1995.

Ben Rhodes, US deputy national security advisor for strategic communications, told reporters that Obama’s speech would discuss the affinity between Ireland and the United States.

“It’s a chance for the president to really celebrate the ties between our countries and the kind of unique feelings that the American people have for Ireland,” he said.

And the message will be all the more personal after he makes an afternoon pilgrimage to the tiny village of Moneygall in rural County Offaly, where his great-great-great grandfather Falmouth Kearney hailed from.

Parts of the Kearney house are still standing, while an upper floor has been added on the pebble-dashed, two-bedroomed home.

US security figures in dark suits have been staking out the one-strip village for nearly a week and only the 350-odd residents of Moneygall and the surrounding farms will be allowed in for the trip, expected to last little more than an hour.

Obama’s eighth cousin, 26-year-old accountant Henry Healy, was buzzing with excitement.

“This is going to be one of the most historic days we have ever seen,” he told AFP in the village bar.

Obama will first meet President Mary McAleese and Prime Minister Enda Kenny after he steps off Air Force One at Dublin Airport early Monday.

His visit comes three days after the highly-successful first visit of a British monarch since Ireland won its independence from London in 1922.

“Together with the visit of Queen Elizabeth II, Mr Obama’s visit signals to the world that while Ireland is a small country, we are a significant nation,” Kenny wrote in The Irish Times newspaper.

“Equally, it reminds us here at home, that in these difficult times, Ireland has reliable, attentive neighbours, good friends.

“President Obama’s arrival marks a new episode in the long and lifegiving relationship between our two, proud nations. I am confident that we will make the most of it,” he added.

The visits by Obama and the queen come as a tonic after a tough year for Ireland, during which the one-time “Celtic Tiger” economy was forced to take an 85-billion-euro ($121-billion) EU-IMF bailout to stave off bankruptcy.

Obama will on Tuesday fly to London where he will be the guest of the queen during a two-day state visit. Later in the week, he will attend the G8 summit in France before rounding off the trip in Poland on Friday.