Obama could be set for historic Eyre Square speech

Barack Obama’s Irish cousin has predicted that the US President will come to Galway before his term ends to deliver a speech in Eyre Square reminiscent of his hero, John F Kennedy.

Plans for the historic return trip here – this time to mark St Patrick’s Day – are reportedly already being worked on behind the scenes.

Obama’s eighth cousin Henry Healy said the President’s officials told him last March that he was interested in returning before his second term ends in January 2017.

“President Obama’s chief speechwriter Cody Keenan said the President was interested in coming back to Ireland before his Presidency ends. He said part of the plan would be for the President to speak in Galway like his predecessor John F Kennedy did back in 1963.”

Obama has forged a couple of Galway links during his two terms. The White House asked former Menlo resident Billy Lawless to introduce President Obama at a speech to campaign for support for his immigration reforms in November 2014. The Chicago-based businessman, who owns a chain of pubs and restaurants, is a prominent activist for undocumented Irish immigrants.

He was praised by Obama as an example of why immigrants should be helped to legalise their status through his legislation, pointing out that immigrants started a quarter of new businesses.

“Together they [Billy Lawless and his family] have gone from employing 10 workers to employing more than 250 workers and you just heard what Billy said: ‘This is what immigrants do’.”

The Barack Obama Plaza was conceived by Ballinasloe native Pat ‘Supermac’ McDonagh for a junction at Moneygall on the M7, the ancestral home of the President.

When visiting the White House last St Patrick’s day, his cousin, now known as Henry the Eighth, commissioned Galway photographer Martina Regan to create a portrait that captured the equine industry.

For more on this story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune