Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's Mayo roots ahead of historic visit

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will visit his ancestral home in Mayo as part of an official visit to Ireland next weekend, writes Keith Bourke.

Mr Carney will visit Dublin to meet An Taoiseach Micheál Martin and will then travel to Mayo to meet President Catherine Connolly.

Mr Carney’s grandparents, Robert Carney and Nora Moran, emigrated from Aughagower, Westport, to Canada in 1925 and got married a year later.

While full details of the Mayo trip have not yet been revealed, a civic reception was recently proposed by Mayo County Council members.

This will be the first official bilateral visit to Ireland by a Canadian Prime Minister in nearly a decade, and the first ever official visit to Mayo by someone holding that office. 

Mr Carney’s office said that during his time in Ireland he will focus on deepening Canada and Ireland’s longstanding cultural and people-to-people ties and expanding relationships across agri-food, digital innovation, AI, pharmaceuticals and climate.