Democrats tie in Obama birthday with vote drive

An event in Moneygall, Co Offaly, this weekend will mark Barack Obama’s 51st birthday while also encouraging US citizens in Ireland…

An event in Moneygall, Co Offaly, this weekend will mark Barack Obama’s 51st birthday while also encouraging US citizens in Ireland to avail of their right to vote in November’s presidential election.

The event is being organised by Democrats Abroad Ireland. Its chairman, Dennis Desmond, says that every American of voting age who holds a US passport has the right to vote in the election, regardless of where they live.

"We want to direct all Americans in Ireland to votefromabroad.orgwhere they can register to vote and request their absentee ballot," Mr Desmond said.

Saturday’s events in Moneygall will include a visit to the Kearney house, the ancestral home of Mr Obama’s great-great-great grandfather Falmouth Kearney, who left Moneygall to begin a new life in the US in 1850.

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People will then make their way to Ollie Hayes’s pub where Mr Obama famously drank a pint last year. Food and entertainment from Irish dancers will be laid on for the occasion which will be attended by the president’s distant cousin, Henry Healy.

Mr Hayes said yesterday that the village had seen increased tourism as a result of the presidential visit.

“There are Americans coming on a daily basis . . . There’s a pick- up in the whole village and there’s an atmosphere here as well,” he added. “People are keeping the place tidy and volunteering in the ancestral home, everyone is doing their part. It’s put a small village on the map.”