{"id":43335,"date":"2025-09-25T21:04:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T21:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/43335\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T21:04:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T21:04:10","slug":"barack-obama-spread-hope-of-brighter-days-ahead-as-he-became-a-freeman-of-dublin-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/43335\/","title":{"rendered":"Barack Obama spread hope of \u2018brighter days ahead\u2019 as he became a freeman of Dublin \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fourteen years ago, US<\/a> president Barack Obama stepped on stage<\/a> at Dublin\u2019s College Green to a rapturous reception. The 60,000 crowd had been worked up to hysterical levels of excitement by warm-up acts including Westlife and Jedward, and sports figures Brian O\u2019Driscoll and Katie Taylor<\/a>, as well as Taoiseach Enda Kenny.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Mr Obama was back in town to receive the Freedom of the city of Dublin. He was greeted by Lord Mayor Ray McAdam, seven other city councillors, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe and former Taoiseach Brian Cowen. Also in attendance was former Lord Mayor Brendan Carr, who proposed Mr Obama for the honour eight years ago, as well as city council chief executive Richard Shakespeare and a small number of other officials and dignitaries.<\/p>\n

The private ceremony, attended by a crowd of about 30, was held in the Constitution room of the Shelbourne Hotel opposite St Stephen\u2019s Green, the park where Mr Obama now has the right to graze sheep.<\/p>\n

The former US president was presented with a copy of the first American edition of Ulysses and a bottle of whiskey. He signed the official scroll, making him a freeman of Dublin. According to one or two of those present, he said a few words referencing the \u201cchallenging times\u201d the world was facing, and the need for \u201chope\u201d that there would be \u201cbrighter days ahead\u201d. <\/p>\n

He stood for some photos, shook hands, told Green Party councillor Janet Horner she looked very young to be a politician (she was delighted) and the whole event was done and dusted in about half an hour.<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer Taoiseach Brian Cowen arriving to the Shelbourne Hotel where former US president Barack Obama received the Freedom of Dublin. Photograph: Sam Boal\/Collins Photos <\/p>\n

Afterwards, Cllr Horner said Mr Obama was \u201cvery warm\u201d, while Social Democrats councillor Cat O\u2019Driscoll said the ceremony was \u201cquite nice\u201d and \u201can uplifting occasion\u201d.<\/p>\n

Cllr McAdam said it was a privilege to have the opportunity to award Mr Obama the Freedom of Dublin, saying the former president had shown that words coupled with convictions \u201ccould still move mountains\u201d. Cllr McAdam reflected on the words of Beckett: \u201cBetter hope deferred than none\u201d.<\/p>\n

Groups leaders of each party on the council were invited to the ceremony, but Sinn F\u00e9in, People Before Profit and the Independent group declined to attend.<\/p>\n

The Independent group said it was boycotting the event due to Mr Obama\u2019s foreign policy regime in office, including his support of Israel \u201cdespite its war crimes in Gaza and relentless settlement expansion\u201d.<\/p>\n

About 50 people gathered outside the Shelbourne Hotel during the ceremony, some expressing similar sentiments. <\/p>\n

Mark Price of the Irish Anti War Movement said he was there to \u201cprotest Barack Obama\u2019s visit to Dublin\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been an absolute operative for the American empire and we should not be [giving] him the Freedom of the city of Dublin, in my opinion,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\"SylviaSylvia Jones wearing a shirt aimed at US president Donald Trump outside the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin. Photograph: Sam Boal\/Collins Photos <\/p>\n

\u201cHe might have made some statements early in his presidency about Guantanamo Bay and Palestine and so on, but in practice, he vastly increased instability through drone warfare in Afghanistan and Pakistan and through escalating the Ukraine situation in 2014.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, most shared positive sentiments. Danielle Bochneak, from Obama\u2019s hometown of Chicago, who has been living in Ireland for two years, recalled meeting him on the night he secured his first presidential term in 2008. \u201cIt was just a handshake, but he makes a connection with everyone that he comes in contact with . . . so that was really incredible.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"BarackBarack Obama supporter Terri McClain outside the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin. Photograph: Alan Betson\/The Irish Times<\/p>\n

Asked why she came to the Shelbourne on Thursday afternoon, she said: \u201cI miss him. We are lacking the civility that president Obama and Michelle Obama bring to the White House, so I really wanted to see them again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Terri McClain, from Seattle, wearing an \u201cI heart Obama\u201d t-shirt, said she flew to Dublin to attend Obama\u2019s public interview with Fintan O\u2019Toole, which will take place in the 3Arena on Friday evening. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe all miss him in the States and what\u2019s happening now is not a good thing,\u201d she said. \u201cGod bless president Obama, he\u2019s a good person and I support him all the time.\u201d <\/p>\n

Sylvia Jones from Dublin and Dave Quinn from Limerick joined the crowd at the Shelbourne \u201cto support Obama\u201d.<\/p>\n

Wearing a shirt that read \u201cTrump <\/a>Not Welcome\u201d, Ms Jones said she is \u201cwishing for better times, the good times when [Obama] was in power, not this absolute disaster that\u2019s happening at the moment\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fourteen years ago, US president Barack Obama stepped on stage at Dublin\u2019s College Green to a rapturous reception.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-43335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}