{"id":499376,"date":"2026-06-14T15:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T15:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/499376\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T15:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T15:06:11","slug":"can-we-have-mass-outside-mark-carney-returns-to-sun-soaked-mayo-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/499376\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Can we have mass outside?\u2019: Mark Carney returns to sun-soaked Mayo home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canadian prime minister Mark Carney has said retracing his roots to the west of Ireland has been a \u201cgreat thrill\u201d.<\/p>\n

Carney flew to Co Mayo on Sunday morning after spending Saturday in Dublin city as part of a two-day official visit.<\/p>\n

He traces his heritage back to the village of Aughagower, where he met excited locals and some of his distant cousins, including his oldest living relatives, Maureen and Pat Carney.<\/p>\n

\"CanadianCanadian Prime Minister Mark Carney plants an oak tree during a visit to Aughagower (Andrew Downes\/PA)<\/p>\n

He visited graves of his ancestors after attending mass and planting a tree in the sun soaked village on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Joking with the priest by asking \u201ccan we have mass outside?\u201d, Carney also met excited locals young and old \u2013 as well as some Canadian citizens who came to see him.<\/p>\n

Commenting that \u201cno one noticed\u201d the last time he was in Aughagower in 2017, he said it was \u201cremarkable\u201d to be with those gathered.<\/p>\n

\"CanadianCanadian Prime Minister Mark Carney during a visit to Aughagower (Andrew Downes\/PA)<\/p>\n

Carney said it was an \u201chonour\u201d to be back, adding it provided a \u201csense of purpose\u201d to engagements on the Ireland-Canada relationship.<\/p>\n

The main road to the town was adorned with Canadian flags, which the prime minister said felt like a \u201cwelcome for Canada\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the ties of many Irish people to Canada, its what Canada represents for many people around the world: A force for good, a place that welcomes immigrants and makes them their own \u2013 and it is reciprocated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he had any advice for the Mayo gaelic football team, Carney said his guidance would not be to take his opinion on that sport.<\/p>\n

However, it was a sign made that morning by Jack Langan caught the Prime Minister\u2019s eye.<\/p>\n

The nine-year-old said Carney told him his poster was \u201cvery nice\u201d, adding that meeting the prime minister was a \u201conce-off and great for the village\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"CanadianCanadian Prime Minister Mark Carney shakes hands with Taoiseach Michael Martin (Andrew Downes\/PA)<\/p>\n

His mother Maryu said it was \u201cfantastic\u201d to see Carney, with an \u201camazing community spirit\u201d in the village.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis DNA runs through this village and it is just phenomenal to see him. He\u2019s a fantastic world leader since he became prime minister.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carney spotted a 17-month old boy wearing a Montreal Canadiens hockey jersey.<\/p>\n

After posing with the smiling Malachy Morgan, his mother Mary Rose Connell told the Press Association meeting Carney was \u201cawesome\u201d.<\/p>\n

Originally from New Brunswick, she now lives 40 minutes away in Cornamona, Co Galway.<\/p>\n

\"CanadianCanadian Prime Minister Mark Carney meets members of the public during a visit to Aughagower (Andrew Downes\/PA)<\/p>\n

Rachel Basquel said there had been a \u201cgreat buzz\u201d around the village in preparing for the visit over the last two weeks, adding that locals have been \u201csoaking int he atmosphere\u201d.<\/p>\n

Carney stopped to meet Ms Basquel and her nine-month-old daughter Lily Meskell.<\/p>\n

She said there was \u201cgreat excitement\u201d about Carney coming to Aughagower, adding: \u201cHe is so important on the world stage at the moment and him coming over here really helps the trade relationship between Ireland and Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it was really exciting to meet him \u2013 and knowing he has ancestral family from Mayo, it\u2019s a really proud day for the village.\u201d<\/p>\n

The prime minister\u2019s itinerary included a meeting with Irish President Catherine Connolly in the nearby Westport House, which he described as \u201cwonderful\u201d, and engagements with Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin in the Mayo seaside town.<\/p>\n

Carney is the grandson of Irish emigrants Robert Carney and Nora Moran, from tenant farmer families, who were born in Mayo and left the country for Canada aboard the steamship Montnairn in July 1925.<\/p>\n

\"CanadianCanadian Prime Minister Mark Carney meets Jack Langan (Andrew Downes\/PA)<\/p>\n

Martin said Carney\u2019s grandparents, who were born in Aughagower, would be \u201cenormously proud\u201d that their \u201csacrifices and hardships paved the way for his remarkable accomplishments and achievements\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said the day was significant for Carney to reconnect with his heritage, deepen Canadian-Irish ties, and for the Aughagower community who were \u201cproud\u201d to see a global figure come home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s wonderful for prime minister Carney that we\u2019ve had these two days, and you could see he was beaming today because he was among his own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin said that after visiting the Book of Kells in Trinity College, the two men saw a page in the Book of Armagh that linked Aughagower to the country\u2019s patron saint.<\/p>\n

Earlier, Martin said: \u201cThe page opened for T\u00edrech\u00e1n\u2019s account of St Patrick\u2019s journey through Mayo and he visits \u2013 you won\u2019t believe it \u2013 Aughagower before going to Croagh Patrick.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CanadianCanadian Prime Minister Mark Carney meets his oldest living relatives Maureen and Pat Carney (Andrew Downes\/PA)<\/p>\n

He said that Saint Patrick told the people \u201cthere will be good bishops here, and from their seed, blessed people will come forth forever in this sea\u201d.<\/p>\n

Martin went on to joke: \u201cI knew he was a visionary, but I never quite knew that St Patrick was that visionary \u2013 and he clearly had Mark Carney in mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Taoiseach also referenced the \u201cextraordinary journey\u201d of Carney\u2019s grandparents in search of a better life across the Atlantic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey could scarcely have imagined that one day their grandson would return to Ireland as prime minister of Canada, welcomed by the people of the country they left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the two leaders announced a new \u201cbilateral co-operation framework\u201d on trade and investment, life sciences, research and innovation, and security and defence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canadian prime minister Mark Carney has said retracing his roots to the west of Ireland has been a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-499376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499376","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=499376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}