LOCAL REACTION:THE RELAXED approach taken by the president and first lady Michelle Obama captured the hearts of the people of Moneygall during an extended visit to the rural Co Offaly village.
Local publican Ollie Hayes was astounded by the warmth of the visit.
“This visit wasn’t for votes, this was personal. This man said he’s coming back and he’s bringing his two children with him again,” Mr Hayes said.
The president and first lady went behind the counter in Ollie Hayes’s where Michelle poured two near perfect pints of Guinness. “You couldn’t describe it. What he did and she did, from what I understand and what I have heard, is not the norm, they never did that before,” Mr Hayes remarked.
“He was chatting away, he gave two speeches in the pub,” Mr Hayes added, “he gave a speech and the whole pub was in silence. He worked his way down ordered a pint and then he stood behind the counter and he did speak out to the whole pub again from behind the counter.”
“It was extraordinary . . . if you are looking at the bar generally you will see me or some of the staff but you were looking at the president of the United States talking to the whole pub,” he added.
The president spoke with Mr Hayes about the business and the economy.
He also talked of the positivity created by both his visit and the recent visit of the queen.
Mr Hayes has now been invited to visit Washington on St Patrick’s Day and he is keeping a prize memento from the visit well guarded. After the president finished his pint, the glass was presented to Mr Hayes.
“The pint glass is in my possession. It was removed by the secret service and handed to me in the pub.”
President Obama’s eighth cousin Henry Healy remained on a high following the visit. “It’s an honour and a privilege to have the role that I had today to bring the president to my village. What an honour, who would have thought it that one day I would be bringing the president through Moneygall village? I certainly didn’t think it was going to happen,” he said.
“Both of them remarked on the connection and Michelle Obama said, yeah it’s about right, you’re both about the same height. When he met me he said, ‘I believe you’re my cousin Henry the eighth’.”
Being embraced in the street by the president of the United States was no shock to the Moneygall native. “It felt very natural and the first lady did the same. It’s going to be some come down from this.
“Michelle, she said ‘I believe you’re a cousin, you’re family’. She said ‘I can see the resemblance, you’re the same height’.”
Mr Healy was particularly pleased that the couple extended their visit to Moneygall and took time to greet the local people. “For the crowd the 3,000 people, the president and the first lady walking up along with them, that was fantastic, I’m delighted that they done that.
“He has embraced his Irish roots, that’s what makes it really special.
“He really enjoyed his time here and has promised to come back which is also very special. He didn’t say when,” Mr Healy added.
Canon Stephen Neill was very taken with the couple.
“The chemistry between the two of them was one of the most remarkable things, it was tangible, there was a spark between them. They chatted to each other as if there was nobody else in the room, there was a banter between them and really it was as if nobody else was there.
“He was very relaxed, very charismatic, both he and the first lady, and hugely impressive. They were very much at ease and he was very excited about the official records. He grabbed his cameraman and said, ‘you got to take a picture of this’,” Canon Neill said.
Canon Neill said President Obama “really pressed the flesh. He worked the room in here and he worked the crowd outside. I think that virtually everybody got within about three or four feet of him, which was tremendous. The visit was nearly two hours long when we were told at one stage it might be half an hour. It way surpassed our expectations.”