GALLERY: When the Obamas went to Moneygall

With the news that Michelle Obama is heading for these parts when Barack attends a G8 summit in the north next month, rumours are inevitably abound that the First Lady will return to Moneygall with the couple’s two daughters in tow.

Mrs Obama had previously said she would like to bring 14-year-old Malia and 11-year-old Sasha to visit their father's ancestral village in Co Offaly. Moneygall was the birthplace of the oddly-named Falmouth Kearney, a shoemaker’s son who took a coffin ship to the New World in 1850 and became great-great-great grandfather to President Barack Obama.