Secret tour of White House, Oval Office for Obama’s Irish cousin and friend

President Obama’s cousin Henry Healy talks of amazing St Patrick’s Day experience

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Barack Obama, Henry Healy and Ollie Hayes enjoying a pint of Guinness at the Dubliner pub in Washington DC

Photo by Irish Independent

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The Irishmen who went for a pint with President Barack Obama have spoken of their amazing St Patrick’s Day experience in Washington.

Henry Healy, President Obama’s distant cousin, and Ollie Hayes, the Irish publican who welcomed him to Moneygall last year, were VIP guests at the White House.

They were invited to the very heart of American politics in a series of secret emails, given an access-all-areas tour and accompanied President Obama for a Paddy’s Day pint in the city’s Dubliner bar.

Less than a year after Healy and Hayes drank Guinness with the President in his ancestral Irish homeland, the trio were re-united after Henry and Ollie received an invitation to join President Obama and First Lady Michelle for a St Patrick’s Day reception.

Plans to start their American tour in New York had to be cut short after the secret invite from the President as Healy told the Irish Independent newspaper.

“We weren’t even aware what was going to happen, we were sworn to secrecy,” said Healy.

“We arrived at 11.30am on Saturday to the north-west gates of the White House. We made our own way there and then Ollie and myself went through security clearance. We were brought into the West Wing - we went into the Oval Office and got a chance to walk around it.

“I saw the desk and all the things you see on TV, it was unbelievable. The act where President Lincoln signed for the freedom of slavery was there and lots of books, photographs and artefacts.”

Healy revealed how the pair also saw President Obama’s private office with lots of photographs of his family, a basketball on the floor and Nelson Mandela’s autobiography on his desk.

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He added: “We really were given access all areas. There were letters on his desk. We were brought into a cabinet room and different areas of the White House that nobody would see on a tour. The only place we didn’t see was ‘the situation room’. It’s where the president watched the assassination of Osama bin Laden from.

“One of his aides gave the tour before we crossed the Rose Garden to the south entrance of the White House. The president then arrived in the room we were in and said: ‘Hey Ollie, hey Henry’.

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