{"id":81908,"date":"2026-06-10T05:38:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T05:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/81908\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T05:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T05:38:10","slug":"he-looks-awful-like-gramps-carney-mayo-relatives-set-for-visit-of-canadas-pm-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/81908\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018He looks awful like Gramps Carney\u2019: Mayo relatives set for visit of Canada\u2019s PM \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

First it was a princess, then a president and now the deep ancestral roots of a prime minister are about to be celebrated in Co Mayo<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In fact, Canadian prime minister Mark Carney<\/a>\u2019s connections to the historic village of Aughagower near Westport are even more tangible than those of the late princess Grace to Drimulra near Newport or those of former US president Joe Biden to the town of Ballina.<\/p>\n

Just ask Carney\u2019s second cousin Rosaleen Heraty, who tripped across the connection while baking and watching the news in her kitchen in Aughagower.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was actually back in 2020 during the pandemic. I was at home, like everybody else, making banana bread and I had the television on in the kitchen. It was around the time of the whole Brexit debate and the news was on,\u201d says Heraty.<\/p>\n

\u201cNext thing this distinguished-looking man came on and before I even saw a name, I was struck by how his face looked so much like my grandfather and then the name came up on the screen: Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo I rang my mother and I said: \u2018Mam, there\u2019s a guy on the telly and he looks awful like Gramps Carney\u2019, and my mother said: \u2018Oh! Yeah that would be your second cousin,\u2019 and I said: \u2018Mam, you never said anything,\u2019 and her understated reply was: \u2018Sure they are over in England and they have been in Canada for years, I haven\u2019t seen them.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosaleen\u2019s mother Maureen O\u2019Malley and her brother Pat Carney are two first-cousins-once-removed who are still living in the area along with 22 second cousins.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir dad John Carney and Mark Carney\u2019s grandfather Robert Carney were brothers. Since the confirmation of the visit they have been reminiscing about past generations and are really excited about sharing some of these stories when Mark comes to the village next Sunday,\u201d Heraty adds.<\/p>\n

\"CanadianCanadian prime minister Mark Carney. Photograph: Adrian Wyld\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Westport Historical Society has been busy too, digging up details of the past, and will present a booklet to Carney during his visit this weekend. <\/p>\n

Carney\u2019s grandparents Robert Carney and Nora Moran were from Ayle and Mace, both town lands in the historic parish of Aughagower, where St Patrick is reputed to have stopped on his way to Croagh Patrick, according to local historian Harry Hughes.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike so many of the county\u2019s rural tenant farmers they emigrated to Canada in 1925, marrying the following year. On this centenary year of their marriage, the return of their grandson Mark Carney is a great source of pride for the community and his relations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 28-page booklet, which is the culmination of research by Hughes, James Kelly and Michael Casey, provides a fascinating cross-generational tale during a period of mass emigrations and agrarian rebellion against ascendancy landlordism and colonial power.<\/p>\n

It shows records from the manifest of the Canadian-Pacific steamship Montnairn, the ship on which Robert, \u201ca labourer\u201d, and Nora, \u201ca domestic\u201d, emigrated from Belfast on July 18th, 1925. It also includes genealogical trees, images from censuses, a land valuation certificate, Carney\u2019s grandfather\u2019s birth certificate and a picture of his great-grandmother, Bridget Carney.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis booklet records the cross-generational journey of two offsprings of tenant farmers on Lord Sligo\u2019s Westport estate and the rise of one offspring to the position of prime minister of Canada,\u201d says Hughes. <\/p>\n

\u201cFrom Robert Carney\u2019s career in the Canadian Pacific Railway Police to his grandson\u2019s role as a world leader, local respect for the integrity, hard work and independent spirits of both the Carney and Moran families shines through.<\/p>\n

\u201cMark Carney has always been conscious of his deep connection to Ireland and indeed befriended us in times of crisis. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe famously agreed a plan with our then minister for finance Michael Noonan, during the financial crisis, when he intervened with the German Bundesbank to abstain on the Irish debt renegotiation, which saved the Irish State billions of euro,\u201d Hughes said.<\/p>\n

Carney is scheduled to fly into Knock airport on Sunday morning and attend the 11.30am Mass in the church in Aughagower.<\/p>\n

He is also due to meet President Catherine Connolly and be honoured with a civic reception in Westport Town Hall Theatre where second cousin Rosaleen Heraty happens to be the manager.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, an army of volunteers in Aughagower has been busy repainting the community hall, cutting the grass verges and ensuring the village is in top shape, says the community council chair, Collette Sheridan.<\/p>\n

\"AughagowerAughagower community members Michael Heraty and Damien Gannon painting the community centre ahead of the visit of Canadian prime minister Mark Carney. Photograph: Conor McKeown <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a very special occasion for our village, and we are thrilled to extend a warm and heartfelt welcome to Mark Carney and his entourage for this memorable occasion. The whole community has worked so well together, and there is a real sense of pride in what has been achieved,\u201d Sheridan says.<\/p>\n

While the political dimension may be to the forefront at a dinner hosted by Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin in Dublin Castle on Saturday night, there is a strong poetic dimension to this homecoming for the local community.<\/p>\n

This is expressed in two poems to be presented to Carney by local poet Ger Reidy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a great admirer of Mark Carney, I think he is a very special person in the times in which we live. I believe it is very important that we celebrate the values he stands for,\u201d says Reidy.<\/p>\n

\"AughagowerAughagower village outside Westport, Co Mayo. Photograph: Conor McKeown <\/p>\n

In his poem, Aughagower \u2013 for Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, he encapsulates this leader\u2019s important principles.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs democracies are subjected to coercion\/ we look to Canada as we\u2019ve done before\/ and with pride, to our cherished native son\/<\/p>\n

\u201cTo convene a coalition of the anti-war\/ to protect the hard lessons gleaned from the rubble\/ to reset the world as it slowly forgives\/ to defend civilised values despite the struggle\/ so we can all resume living our sacred\/ ordinary lives.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First it was a princess, then a president and now the deep ancestral roots of a prime minister…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[17,111,31189],"class_list":["post-81908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mark-carney","tag-canada","tag-mark-carney","tag-mayo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}