Canadian prime minister enjoys 'memorable' trip to his ancestral home in Mayo
'On Raglan Road' played powerfully by a brass band in Westport's sun-drenched town square as hundreds of people gathered to greet Mayo's recently returned son, Canadian prime minister Mark Carney.
That a man whose grandparents escaped a poverty-stricken, post-famine Ireland could become the Canadian prime minister was testament to the possibilities and opportunities in Canada, Mr Carney said.
And those same opportunities now also exist in Ireland, a fellow-prosperous country which shares its values — of human rights, respect for diversity, and freedom — common values that both nations must promote internationally, he said.
Canadian flags, hoisted onto every lamppost by enthusiastic volunteers, fluttered across blue skies above picture-perfect Aughagower, the home of Mr Carney's paternal grandparents.
Robert Carney and Nora Moran emigrated from the Mayo village to Canada on the steamship Montnairn in July 1925. The couple married in Canada a century ago, in April 1926.
The Carneys and the Morans were tenant farmers on the estate of Lord Sligo, according to research by the Westport Historical Society.
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“Robert and Nora were raised during an era of great upheaval and transformation in Ireland.
“Their families had lived through the aftermath of the Great Famine and witnessed waves of mass emigration,” research from the Westport Historical Society said.
But in Canada, his father would become the first person in his family to go to university.
Mr Carney said that it “feels wonderful” to be back in his paternal grandparents’ home of Aughagower.
“I’ve had an amazing welcome,” he told journalists in Aughagower village on Sunday.
“I have a lot more cousins than I realized. I've met many of them. The people of Ireland and Canada share “such strong feeling of kinship,” he said.
“And from the spring springs out all these relationships and ties over the years and the centuries.
“It's the 180 year anniversary next year of, unfortunately, the start of the famine. In this area, one third of the people were lost to the famine or emigration.
“But 180 years later, the flow is not one way,” he said, with “prosperous Canada coming to Ireland and Ireland coming to Canada, everyone bonded together and bonded with the same values.”
Mr Carney was the first Canadian prime minister to visit Mayo. His visit also marks the first bilateral visit by a Canadian leader to Ireland in close to 10 years.
“I don’t remember the sun here,” Mr Carney said smiling, as he greeted locals gathered outside Aughagower church in the bright Mayo sun.
Mr Carney stopped to greet little Malachy Morgan, aged 17 months, who was wearing a Montreal ice hockey shirt and holding a tiny ice hockey stick. He picked the little boy up in his arms.
His parents, Mary Rose Connell, who is Canadian, and Mayo man Owen Morgan met in Montreal, but have recently moved back to Mayo.
They drove the 40 minutes from their home to witness the Canadian Prime Minister’s visit today. “We didn’t want to miss it,” Mary Rose said.
“Getting Malachy and him [Mark Carney] in a photo was the dream. It was a really cool moment that he picked him up.
“He said, it was great to see a Montreal jersey, especially in the west of Ireland.
"We’re really proud of him [Mark Carney]," Mary Rose said.
Jack Langan and Áron Gibbons both age nine, shook Mr Carney’s hand in the Mayo village.
“It was a memorable day,” Jack said.
The prime minister admired Jack's sign, saying 'welcome home prime minister Mark Carney,' which was made carefully from a Rice Crispy box and red markers that morning.
"He said it was very good," Jack said.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that he noticed the “seamless interaction” Mr Carney had with the people in Aughagower.
“One could discern their pride that a grandson had come home as the Canadian prime minister, but also as a global figure in terms of his capacity to articulate fundamental principles and values on the world stage,” Mr Martin said.
"So there’s a real sense of history, and of course he brought magical sunshine as well."
Mr Carney's visit this weekend has been significant to reconnect with his Irish family, but also to further deepen Irish-Canadian and EU-Canadian relations, Mr Martin said.
The leaders discussed building a new global AI architecture, to regulate the technology which a leading AI company has already warned may be slipping beyond human control.
They also discussed forging new links between Irish and Canadian life sciences, agri-food, agri-tech and animation sectors.
Mr Carney has worked to strengthen Canada's ties with Europe since taking office as prime minister in a time of increasingly fraught and unstable geopolitics.
He has repeatedly clashed with US president Donald Trump, who has threatened to make Canada America’s 51st state.
Mr Carney has refused to acquiesce to the US leader and has spoken about the need for small and medium sized nations to form deeper ties to push back against bullying by larger powers.
He mimicked Mr Trump on stage in Co Mayo on Sunday evening, entertaining hundreds of people with his impression of the much-parodied leader.
After being awarded a civic scroll in Mayo on Sunday evening, Mr Carney performed an impression of the US president on the stage in Westport’s Town Hall Theatre.
The Canadian prime minister spoke about the gift he received — a ceremonial key to the Whitehouse — from “another great leader,” more than one year ago.
“Mark, this is very special, this is unique. [...] No one else has it, no one else has it,” Mr Carney said, mimicking Mr Trump’s voice.
"I was touched and I said ‘president, what will it do?'
"And he said: ‘well, they’ll either let you in or they’ll shoot you. They’ll probably soot you.’"
But Mr Carney said that he knows that "every door in Mayo will be open” to him.
His comments drew loud applause from hundreds of well-wishers in the Town Hall Theatre, including his Irish cousins who attended the civic ceremony.
When asked by reporters earlier in the day, Taoiseach Micheal Martin said he could not guarantee the same sunshine in Ireland for Trump’s potential visit in September as had been delivered in Mayo for Mr Carney’s visit today.
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