A CAMPAIGN has been launched to have Shinrone in Co Offaly included in Barack Obama’s visit to Ireland in recognition of the US president’s ancestral ties to the village.

BEING the first black president of the United States and of Kenyan origin, perhaps the most unexpected connection was that a man with such an exotic name, in the most powerful job in the world, would have links to a small village in Co Offaly.

US presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s ancestry has been traced back to a shoemaker in a small Irish village.

THE Clintons are not noted for inhaling, but the latest news of Barack Obama’s Irish roots must have been met with more than a sharp intake of breath.