During his St. Patrick’s Day visit to the White House, Taoiseach Enda Kenny presented President Obama with an official Certificate of Irish Heritage. These certificates, which all members of the Irish diaspora with at least one relative born in Ireland are welcome to apply for, recognize the recipients’ Irish ancestors – in this case, Obama’s maternal great-great-great-grandfather, Falmouth Kearney of Moneygall, Co. Offaly. The president thanked Taoiseach Kenny for the certificate, and quipped that it would have a special place of honor alongside his (once highly contested) birth certificate.
Remarking on the significance of the certificate, Taoiseach Kenny said “This is a chance for everyone who has a sense of their Irishness, from Boston to Brisbane, to receive an acknowledgement of that from the State.”
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