New Canadian PM to be invited to visit Mayo

Mayo councillors are to invite new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to visit the county, writes Keith Bourke.

The new prime minister’s grandparents hail from Mayo.

“We have an amazing situation where Mark Carney’s grandfather Robert Carney left Ireland from Ayle in Aghagower along with his wife Nora Moran from Mace,” Fine Gael Cllr Peter Flynn told a meeting of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District, which was held at the Solas Centre in Aughleam.

Cllr Flynn said more efforts should be made to reinforce Mayo’s connection with Canada.

“Canada has a population of over 40 million with a huge connection to Mayo. We often concentrate on the United States side of things and Lord knows how that’s going to go in the months and years ahead,” said the Westport councillor.

He proposed sending a formal letter of invitation to Prime Minister Carney.

“I think we should be forging links with Canada. The fact that we have a prime minister who has grandparents that are linked into this municipal district, I would like to propose that a formal letter of invitation go out to him. I would suggest that the likes of the Solas Centre and other locations around the county would try and identify links with Mark Carney and we really try and make it a special occasion,” he added.

Cllr John O’Malley seconded the proposal.

“They are excited in Aghagower about it and I think we should go ahead and invite him. It will be as big as Biden coming to Ballina,” said Cllr O’Malley.

Mr Carney, a former Bank of England governor, won Canada’s election after a campaign dominated by the country’s relationship with the US under President Donald Trump.

He ran Canada’s central bank during the 2008 financial crisis and the Bank of England during Brexit and cited his experience as crucial for handling the economic turmoil caused by the US president.