My Irish Brother

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	Obama in the old country By Aoife O’Riordain Published: May 13 2011 22:03 | Last updated: May 13 2011 22:03 The main street in Moneygall, County Offaly Moneygall, County Offaly, is on the way to lots of places but has never been much of a destination. This small Irish village on the road from Dublin to the south-western city of Limerick is a blink-and-you-miss-it type of spot. Recently bypassed by a new motorway, the flow of traffic that used to pass through its main street from dawn till dusk has now ebbed to a trickle. But later this month this hamlet in the heart of rural Ireland will have its moment of fame. On May 23, Barack Obama is due to make a flying visit to Moneygall to pay his respects to his Irish ancestry. For in the furore over his Hawaiian birth certificate, what many may have missed is that the president is – in small part at least – Irish. Genealogical research carried out the year before his election found Obama, or O’Bama as he has become known in these parts, is the great, great, great grandson of Fulmuth Kearney, who hailed from a family of Moneygall cobblers and emigrated to America in the 1850s. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web. This article can be found at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/2187ab5e-7ce4-11e0-a7c7-00144feabdc0,_i_email=y.html
 
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