How the US president’s roots were traced to Offaly

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.

However, the Irish are nothing if not an industrious people, so once Barack Obama reached the White House, it was inevitable his tenuous, but nonetheless legitimate, Irish ancestry would be unearthed.

Through the lineage of Mr Obama’s mother Ann Dunham, the president’s family history can be traced back to 18th-century Ireland and more specifically to the Kearney family in Moneygall in Co Offaly.