Carney to visit his grandparent's home village in Mayo

The Canadian Prime Minister is concluding his two-day official visit to Ireland with a trip to his ancestral homeland in County Mayo. Mark Carney will meet his cousins in the village of Aughagower where his paternal grandparents grew up before emigrating to Canada in 1925. This visit to Ireland is a political and business trip but it's also a personal Mayo homecoming for Mark Carney. He takes great pride in his Irish roots and has described his heritage as a "big part of who I am". The prime minister is due to attend Mass later this morning in the village of Aughagower. This is where his grandparents, Robert Carney and Nora Moran grew up before emigrating to Canada in 1925 and getting married a year later. Robert Carney, grandfather of Mark Carney wearing his Civic Guard uniform (garda) before he emigrated to Canada in 1925. He went on to serve in the Canadian-Pacific Railway Police Mr Carney will meet over 20 cousins including two of his closest relatives, Pat Carney and Maureen O'Malley who are first cousins of his grandfather. He is also expected to visit the nearby cemetery where some of his ancestors are buried. It's understood this will be a low-key event away from the media spotlight. Maureen's daughter Rosaleen Heraty explained the family connection: "So, Mam and Pat's father was John Carney and he was the brother of Robert Carney who is Mark Carney's grandfather! Imagine, his grandson is the prime minister of Canada!", she said beaming. "It's all we can talk about, generations of the Carney clan, and we are so excited to finally meet him." "If you compare photos of him and his grandfather Robert, there is an uncanny likeness. I noticed it when I spotted him on the telly when he was Governor of the Bank of England. I saw the name Carney and saw the face and said it to Mam. She hardly missed a beat and just said 'ah yeah, we haven't seen them for years'," said Rosaleen laughing at the memory. 'Carney's Cottage' in the centre of Aughagower village, home to cousins of Carneys of Ayle and became a sweet shop for many years Ms Heraty is Manager at the Townhall Theatre in Westport where she has been busy preparing for the civic reception later this evening to honour Mr Carney. Harry Hughes is a local historian and member of the Westport Historical Society. Together with James Kelly and Micheál Casey he researched and edited a commemorative history of the Carneys and Morans. This will be gifted to Mr Carney at the civic reception which is being hosted by Mayo County Council. The two families were tenant farmers on the estate of Lord Sligo. The Carney home in Ayle was typical of the rural dwellings of the time, a thatched cottage with two windows in the front (1901) with nine people living in two rooms, a third room being added later. Nora's home in the townland of Mace North was a stone's throw from Robert Carney's home in Ayle. Both Ayle and Mace were in the parish of Aughagower, where Harry Hughes says St Patrick is believed to have stopped off on the way to Croagh Patrick. Life was extremely difficult and Robert and Nora were reared during a period of great upheaval and transformation in Ireland. Relatives in Aughagower are astounded at the likeness between Mark Carney and his Mayo grandfather Robert Carney Their families had lived through the aftermath of the Great Famine and witnessed waves of mass emigration. Political and social activism played a big part in their lives. They saw the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922 with Robert Carney becoming one of the earliest members of the new police force, the Civic Guard (later An Garda Síochána). The couple emigrated to Canada in 1925 and married the following year. They had three sons. Now their grandson Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada and former Governor of the Bank of England, has "come home" to Aughagower. There's a map of this parish on his office desk to remind him of where he came from. The prime minister's first engagement is to take place at Westport House this morning where he will be greeted on the steps by President Catherine Connolly before they head inside for a brief meeting.