The Governor of New York fulfilled a promise to his mother yesterday when he brought her to the country church where her great grandparents were married in 1867.
The sun shone on Stonetown church, near Louth village, as long lost relatives and local dignitaries gathered for the visit by three generations of the now Pataki family; the governor, his 84-year-old mother, Margaret and his 17-year-old son, Theodore.
"It's wonderful to be home," he told his second and third cousins and many other distant relations. Hundreds of hands of were shaken and even more photographs taken of the governor.
Mr George Pataki said he has always wanted to visit Ireland and, "I promised my mother I would bring her back and every year there was some reason why we could not do it and this year I said this is it, we are going."
His grandmother Agnes Lynch emigrated to New York in 1909 when she was 21 years old, after the death of her mother. In America she married Italian Matteo Lagan and had two children, one who became the governor's mother, Mrs Margaret Pataki.
The governor stressed this was not a political visit but a family one but he did keep in touch with the peace process. "Obviously we are all hopeful the peace process will move forward . . . we would encourage everyone to do their best to make sure it can conclude successfully. It is very important for Ireland and for all of us who have strong feelings about Ireland."
"I grew up knowing my grandmother was from Louth and it was so close to the six counties and hearing my grandmother's stories about her life in Ireland. They were moving and emotional stories that have had a profound impact on my life and on my political view of the need for peace and the need for protection of the rights of the Catholics in the six counties of the North."
The governor and his family also had a guided tour of the Cooley Peninsula at the invitation of the chairman of Louth County Council, Mr Peter Savage. In his welcoming speech Mr Savage reminded Mr Pataki of the traditional advice given to young men and women of marriageable age in Ireland in years gone by.
"The advice was to marry the neighbour and keep the cow for the stranger because we knew all about the neighbour but if anything went wrong with the cow, the stranger did not know where to find you!"