Chicago-born Athlone mayor in bid to bring Obama to town

Mayor of Athlone Cllr Sheila Buckley Byrne has said this week that she hopes the fact she was born in President Barack Obama's hometown of Chicago will help to sway the president when he is finalising his itinerary for his visit to Ireland in May. At Monday's April meeting of Athlone Town Council, Cllr Aengus O'Rourke (FF) requested that the council issue an invite to President Obama and the First Lady Michelle Obama to visit Athlone when they are in Ireland next month. Cllr O'Rourke said he accepted that it was a long shot but it should be stressed in the invite that Athlone was the largest town in the Midlands and that it was a short hop from Moneygall. Fine Gael Cllr Alan Shaw supported the motion and said perhaps President Obama could play a round of golf with Taoiseach Enda Kenny in Athlone. Cllr Kevin 'Boxer' Moran said every council in the country was inviting President Obama to their town and said the council had to be mindful of the cost. "Some people might think it's a great idea, I don't," he said. Mayor Buckley Byrne said she supported the motion and said she had also written to the president, welcoming him to Ireland. She said he wasn't the first American president she had written to, pointing out that she had written to former President Bill Clinton and thanked him for his role in the peace process. "I have a close connection to Chicago. I was born there and I have family there. It is my deep, personal hope that the Taoiseach's office would recognise the only Chicago-born mayor in the country, it being the home city of President Obama. I hope the Government would recognise the importance of this connection and that it would be recognised here," she said. Asked by Cllr Moran if she had received a response from President Obama, Mayor Buckley Byrne said she hadn't, but pointed out that when she wrote to Bill Clinton it had been a September and she had only received a response the following April. "It is up to the Taoiseach to recognise the Chicago-born mayor," she said. The councillors agreed to extend the invitation to President Obama and his wife Michelle to visit Athlone.