JFK’s nephew back in ‘old country’ to launch highlight of The Gathering

Over 160 years after Patrick Kennedy left Ireland to seek a new life across the Atlantic, his namesake and descendant was back in the ‘old country’ yesterday morning to launch one of the highlights of The Gathering schedule.

That move on an emigrant ship by Patrick Kennedy resulted in one of the most famous and successful of all Irish-American families and, in tribute to the Kennedys in general and the late president John F Kennedy in particular, a series of celebrations takes place next month in Co Wexford.

The event will not only form part of The Gathering but will also mark 50 years since the president made his famous visit to the family homestead in Dunganstown, to nearby New Ross and other parts of Ireland, just months before his assassination.

Yesterday, his nephew Patrick and son of the late senator Ted Kennedy, was in Dunganstown to thank all who have kept the metaphorical flame burning in the intervening years, and look forward to next month’s events by launching a new website and brochure.

“It’s a gathering,” former US Congressman Patrick Kennedy said at the Wexford event, “not only for my family but a gathering for all Irish-Americans who still have an ancestral connection to the land that their forebears left to make for a new life in the new world. As the namesake of the man in my family who left in the 1840s to make a new life in America, I’m honoured to be the Patrick Kennedy who comes back many generations later to pay tribute to those who stayed and to those who left.”

The Dunganstown homestead and new visitor centre, along with the nearby John F Kennedy Arboretum, were described by Mr Kennedy as “a wonderful memorial” to his family and also to “the story that my family represented in terms of the Irish who left to come to America and made their life in America and built America”.

Among those present yesterday was Patrick Grennan, third cousin of John F Kennedy and curator of the exhibition at the homestead visitor centre, located next to the home where he lives with his family.

Patrick Kennedy paid tribute to the work of the Government and county council and looked forward to the tourism benefits helping to build the economy in New Ross and Co Wexford, “because of the great planning and excellent work that’s gone into preparing these sites for people to visit”.

The visitor centre at the Kennedy homestead is due to be opened by Taoiseach Enda Kenny on Jun 22 and a number of events that night in New Ross will be attended by president Kennedy’s daughter Caroline Kennedy and sister Jean Kennedy-Smith.