US first family to visit Dublin next week

By Mary Regan, Irish Examiner Political Correspondent

THE First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, and her daughters Malia and Sasha, will explore her Irish heritage during a visit to Trinity College in Dublin on Monday.

They will also view the world-famous Book of Kells during their visit to the University shortly after their arrival in the city at lunchtime on Monday.

The three members of the first family will take a short holiday while their father and husband, US President, Barack Obama, attends the G8 Summit in Co Fermanagh.

On Monday evening, they will be treated to a performance of Riverdance in thte Gaeity Theatre, where teenagers and children from a number of youth groups and schools will be in invited to join them.

Ms Obama had been expected to visit a school during her time in Ireland, but it's now planned that she will instead address a gathering of young people in the theatre.

Following an overnight stay in the Shelbourne Hotel, they will go walking in the Wicklow Hills, with a visit to the picturesque lakes and in Glendalough where they will also see the historical monastic site and round tower.

Ms Obama’s original Irish ancestor was traced and named as Andrew Shields, an Irish immigrant who fought in the American Revolution as a Georgia resident. Andrew Shields was Michelle Obama’s great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather and his family were slave-owners.