NEW YORK BOSTON |#Popular: Irish Celebrity Gossip Irish in US Politics Irish Festivals Irish Roots Irish Entertainment Offbeat Irish

Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > Periscope > Bad weather could ground President Obama's Moneygall trip ----White House is reluctant to travel by road says memo

Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Bad weather could ground President Obama's Moneygall trip ----White House is reluctant to travel by road says memo

Posted on Saturday, May 21, 2011 at 04:59 AM

Larger Text

E-mail

51 Comments

RSS

Archives

President Obama’s trip to Moneygall, to his ancestral village, may be in jeopardy because of weather conditions.

The forecast for Monday May 23, his day in Ireland, is for persistent rain with strong winds which may well be enough to ground Marine One, the president’s helicopter.

If that happens the only access will be by road, but a White House briefing seen by Irish Central makes it clear that weather could play havoc with his plans.

The memo states “ If he has to drive because of weather it would be a long drive almost certainly too long of a drive even with a police escort. It took an advance team 1 hour 42 minutes to get there driving the N7, a divided four lane highway towards Limerick, a drive that goes by sprawling green fields and lots of sheep and cattle grazing.”

The memo makes clear the advance team also had a police escort.

There is precedence for a grounded presidential helicopter.

During one of his visits to Ireland, President Clinton was forced to drive from Dublin to Belfast rather than fly after heavy rain grounded his helicopter. On that occasion thousands showed up by the side of the highway to cheer him on.

Met Eireann, the official weather forecasting service. predicts that Monday will indeed be wet and very windy.

Their prediction is that “rain and strong winds will spread east to all parts overnight. The rain will continue into Monday morning accompanied by southwest gales with some severe gusts across the north and west. The rain will clear on Monday afternoon to be followed by blustery showers.”

Obama has a packed schedule in Ireland but a non appearance in Moneygall would be a shattering blow to the tiny Offaly village which has pulled out all the stops to make the president feel at home.

The world media has made clear his visit to Moneygall is the highlight of his Irish and indeed his European trip.They have descended on the tiny little Offaly village in huge numbers.

Fulmuth Kearney, the great grandfather of Obama’s great grandfather on his mother’s side left the village in 1850 to go to America, to Ross County in Ohio where his father had been left land by his brother.

Obama is due back in Dublin to his hotel in early evening and from then on to his public appearance in College Green in the heart of the capital city..

E-mail

51 comments

Next Previous Page 2 of 4 pages

Ailnsred1 | May 21, 2011, 01:50 PM EDT

3 things come to mind: 1-According to a lot of sources, they knew where Bin Laden was prior to the attack, but didn't get him until right before the primaries began....hmmmm.....; 2-He didn't plan a trip to Ireland until he was snubbed re: the Royal Wedding and knew the queen was going to visit; and 3-He didn't have major plans for Ireland until it was very evident that by doing so, he would garner the Irish American vote in a country that is looking for hope and is almost financially destroyed---what similarities could be there??????

Report abuse

pilib04 | May 21, 2011, 01:43 PM EDT

President Obama will be welcomed in Ireland in the same manner as other American Presidents of Irish descent. This should not come as a big surprise. Besides being of Irish descent, our President happens to be very popular worldwide. Too bad for the haters. Get over it.

Report abuse

irishcoffeekid | May 21, 2011, 01:41 PM EDT

deburca - i'm with you - lets just ignore those who cant even focus on the article they just read but use every story about Obama to slamdunk him. shows how unfocussed they are that they cant even focus on the article!!

Report abuse

irishcoffeekid | May 21, 2011, 01:39 PM EDT

Ya know, everyone is entitled to their opinion on how Obama is doing as a President - i live him, pay my taxes, pay my bills etc but I'm kinda more interested in how his visit is going to affect Ireland - if it helps bring more visitors to Ireland and gives Irish an opportunity to showcase the country and how accepting we are of EVERYONE, i'm all for it - i couldnt care less about all the bullshit comments about his presidency - this isnt about his success rate - the story is about the impact his visit will have on a small village in the middle of Ireland that is on the map big time and the excitement its causing to people who never thought they'd see the day an American President would come visit - get over yourselves about how he's doing - comment on the story we're referring to and take all your political slobber elsewhere - you're boring us with your dribble and look like total muppets to boot!!! GO IRELAND AND GO MONEYGALL. SHOW these muppets you're above all their crap!!!

Report abuse

walleyeman | May 21, 2011, 01:17 PM EDT

Me thinks McNamara 31and Deburca have the distribution rights to Obama kool aid in Ireland. To put it succinctly, Obama sucks. You can keep him.

Report abuse

McNamara31 | May 21, 2011, 01:07 PM EDT

@ deburca "Clapping" Well said and true.It's sickening how far some posters go to demean a president who is attempting to pull America out of the wreckage caused by the prior 8 years.

Report abuse

deburca | May 21, 2011, 01:04 PM EDT

typo: worthy

Report abuse

deburca | May 21, 2011, 12:55 PM EDT

Actually pounder, his grandparents and mother sacrificed a lot to send him to good schools. If only more grandparents and parents did as much. Too bad he's not a trust fund baby like Bush - then you'd think he was worth of being your leader eh?

Report abuse

deburca | May 21, 2011, 12:53 PM EDT

@Pounder, you are the idiot. This guy is the President of the United States and the Irish are the ones who traced his ancestry to Moneygall and as POTUS he is visiting Ireland and, hopefully, stopping by Moneygall as a courtesy - of which the people of Moneygall have prepared for and are looking forward to. Also, our president did not ask for the Nobel Peace Prize so get over it. Go find something to be for as opposed to against - you'll be a happier person.

Report abuse

deburca | May 21, 2011, 12:49 PM EDT

For the "uneducated" THAT don't think President Obama is doing a good job and type in all caps - find a better candidate and vote for him/her instead of bashing our duly elected president all over the net. As for the employment rate, President Obama, with zero help from the GOP managed to pull us back from the Bush Depression where we were hemorrhaging jobs and has been creating jobs since he took office. Also, with no help from the GOP, Obama and the Dems saved the US Auto Industry. Meanwhile the Republicans are ignoring jobs and focussing on such PRESSING NON-job creating issues as taking away the funding for NPR and Planned Parenthood... oh, and reading the Constitution on the House floor.

Report abuse

pounder | May 21, 2011, 12:37 PM EDT

Every native born Hawaian gets certain privileges be stowed on them by the Princess Trust,which fast tracks them to the best schools,best neighborhoods etc.No wonder mama Obama (anthropologist) anchored him there!I hope Hillary runs against him.

Report abuse

McNamara31 | May 21, 2011, 12:29 PM EDT

semperfidelis....No semperfidelis, only racist comments deserve a "racist label" and this past week there have been many on this site. Even though Obama was forced to show his birth certificate and went on to deal with Bin Laden, it's not enough for those who didn't vote for him in the first place, and never accepted him as one of us, or his presidency.

Report abuse

pounder | May 21, 2011, 12:28 PM EDT

Deburca...you are an idiot.First off,this guy is not Irish,and most likely not American.Nobel Peace Prize ring a bell,after what two months in office.The money men who pull the political strings positioned this inept hack into office.

Report abuse

pounder | May 21, 2011, 12:28 PM EDT

He is NOT Irish!

Report abuse

semperfidelis | May 21, 2011, 12:16 PM EDT

So anyone that doesn't fall in line and support everything the president does is a racist.That is as ignorant as those that don't like him or his policies just because of his race. I could care less what color he or any other leader is, if they promote an agenda similiar to his, I would be opposed to it even if said leader was Irish for instance.And Obama the most intelligent American President ever, on what do you form that learned opinion, that is laughable.And alot of the biggest problems in this country are created by the so-called "smarest guys in the room", ivy league types don't you know; I think they drop 200k at harvard et al just to get stupid.

Report abuse

Next Previous Page 2 of 4 pages