'He's like one of our own' - Mayo locals on Prime Minister Carney's visit
A historic day for Mayo, and especially for Aughagower as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney visited his ancestral home. More than 100 years ago, Carney's paternal grandparents who grew up in the area, emigrated to Canada. The Prime Minister's visit this Sunday was an emotional occasion for him.
PM Carney went for mass in Aughagower and then visited relatives' graves. “This is where my story began,” he surmised, standing in front of the graveyard in Aughagower.
“It's amazing to see all the Canadian flags here today. One of the messages that we've heard from conversations today or with the Taoiseach yesterday, is to use the possibilities that we've developed in both our countries, respect for human rights, value of university, we have the responsibility to promote these values elsewhere.”
Carney admitted being in Aughagower twice before. I remember once in 2017, standing here in the rain. I actually went to the church and no one recognised us. And we climbed Croagh Patrick, which I recommend.”
He also weighed in on the impact of the Great Famine, pointing out that one third of the people of the Aughagower area were lost either to the famine or to emigration: “And a lot of them emigrated to Canada. Now, 180 years later, the flow is not one way. Prosperous Canada is coming to Ireland, Ireland is coming to Canada. Everyone bonded together.”
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This was particularly true for PM Carney's visit to Mayo. To round up his visit to Aughagower, he planted a tree in the community garden, resorting to his own past career in gardening, as he said.
And after placing the tree and covering it with soil, Carney had made sure to water it, remarking: “Always a great risk of drought here.” Mr Carney finished by saying “I'm extremely honoured and this is the perfect commemoration.”
He certainly left a lasting impression on locals in Aughagower. JP Scott, a well known shopkeeper in the village, said afterwards, speaking to The Mayo News: “A fabulous day for Aughagower. Weatherwise brilliant. A lovely man. I have to say the Prime Minister was so at easy with all the people. Lika natural, he was just like one of our own. Like an ordinary guy. Very impressed. He shook hands with everybody after church, he spoke to everybody.”
As the sun was beaming down over the course of the whole day, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, who attended mass with Prime Minister Carney, said afterwards, “Mayo is a beautiful county and on a day like today it's magical. But just to say about Aughagower: What was interesting about the book of Armagh yesterday. We came across this page where Saint Patrick is on his way to Croagh Patrick. He stopped in Aughagower and appointed a bishop here. There's a page saying 'there'd be good bishops coming out of Aughagower' and I looked at Mark Carney and said he was talking about you. So there's history in Aughagower and we had a new chapter of that history today.”