Moneygall

Transport

Moneygall is on the R445 regional road and close to the M7 motorway, where Junction 23 provides access to the village.

Bus Éireann no longer provides a service to Moneygall. As of 2019, bus service 854, operated by Local Link Tipperary between Roscrea railway station and Nenagh, called at Main Street and Obama Plaza. The service operates seven days a week.

There is no train station in the village but the nearest stations are in Nenagh, Cloughjordan and Roscrea, all on the Limerick-Ballybrophy railway line, a feeder service to the main Cork to Dublin line, operated by Iarnród Éireann.

The closest airport with scheduled passenger services is Shannon Airport in County Clare.

Education

There is one Catholic national school in the village. The former Church of Ireland school (now used as a parish hall) was built in 1888 beside the R490 Borrisokane turn-off, and closed in 1976, when its pupils were transferred to the neighbouring village of Cloughjordan. An earlier building, constructed around 1800, was previously used as a school. It was then used by the local Church of Ireland community as a chapel of ease until the late 1970s. It has now been converted to a private residence.

Children travel mainly to either Roscrea or Nenagh for secondary schooling. The nearest third-level institutions are Tipperary Institute in Thurles or the University of Limerick, Limerick Institute of Technology and Mary Immaculate College, all of which are in Limerick.

Sport

While all of the village is located in County Offaly, the Gaelic Athletic Association playing field is located in County Tipperary, and Moneygall GAA play in the Tipperary GAA Championships.

Moneygall FC opened its new grounds in 2017 in the centre of the village. The club, while based in County Offaly, compete in North Tipperary.

Demographics

As of the 2016 census, there were 313 people living in Moneygall. The previous 2011 census counted 310 people in the village (153 males and 157 females). This, in turn, was an increase of 12 people (4%) since the census of 2006.

Connection with Barack Obama

Falmouth Kearney, a maternal great-great-great-grandfather of Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States, emigrated from Moneygall to New York City at the age of 19 in 1850 and eventually resettled in Tipton County, Indiana. Kearney's father, Joseph, had been the village shoemaker. The Kearney family emigrated to Ross County, Ohio, in the first half of the 19th century. Falmouth Kearney's youngest daughter, Mary Ann, moved from Indiana to Kansas after her father's death in 1878. Mary Ann Kearney was the paternal grandmother of Stanley Dunham, President Obama's maternal grandfather.

On 23 May 2011, Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, visited Moneygall as part of a visit to Ireland.{{cite web |access-date=23 May 2011}} They were welcomed by 5,000 people and greeted upon arrival by the President's eighth cousin, Henry Healy. Following a walkabout on the main street, where they shook hands with many local residents, the Obamas entered a house that had been built on the site where Falmouth Kearney had lived. Afterwards, they visited Ollie Hayes's pub to meet more of the President's distant relatives and to study the birth records of his ancestors. President and Mrs. Obama drank Irish stout to the traditional toast, sláinte (meaning "good health"), and Mrs. Obama went behind the bar to learn how to pull a pint.

The Barack Obama Plaza service area was opened at Junction 23 of the M7 motorway on the outskirts of Moneygall in June 2014.Multiple sources:

• Life-sized bronze sculptures of Barack and Michelle Obama were added outside the Plaza in August 2018.

File:Marine One Flying Over Irish Fields.jpg|Presidential helicopter "Marine One" flies to Moneygall File:Barack Obama meets Irish cousin in Moneygall.jpg|Henry Healy greets his eighth cousin, Barack Obama File:Crowd watches Barack Obama in Moneygall, Ireland.jpg|A large crowd watches President Obama's approach File:Michelle Obama pours a pint of stout.jpg|Michelle Obama pours a pint of stout

Notable people

• Patrick Cronin (1913–1991), priest, Archbishop of Cagayan de Oro from 1970 to 1988
• Séamus Ó Riain (1916–2007), president of the GAA from 1967 until 1970
• Joseph Prosser (1828–1867), recipient of the Victoria Cross

References

References

1. (April 2022). "Census Interactive Map - Towns: Moneygall - Population Snapshot". Central Statistics Office.
2. "Ordnance Survey Map".
3. "Moneygall / Muine Gall". Placenames Database of Ireland.
4. (January 2018). "County Development Plan - Moneygall". Offaly County Council }}{{dead link.
5. "Cloughjordan - Diocese of Killaloe". Church of Ireland.
6. "Borrisnafarney Church of Ireland Church, Ballycormick, County Offaly". National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
7. (14 July 2012). "Constituency Commission Report 2012 – Waterford – Tipperary – Laois – Offaly – Kildare area". [[Constituency Commission]].
8. "Archived copy".
9. (19 September 2019). "New daily services from Local Link". The Nenagh Guardian.
10. (17 September 2019). "Local Link Tipperary announces 2 New Daily Bus Services". Local Link Tipperary.
11. (October 2021). "Irish Rail}}{{nonspecific".
12. "Moneygall Former Chapel of Ease, Moneygall, County Offaly". National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
13. (April 2016). "Sapmap Area - Settlements - Moneygall". Central Statistics Office.
14. (April 2012 }} {{ISBN). "Population Classified by Area". Central Statistics Office.
15. (3 May 2007). "Rector traces Obama's Irish roots". BBC.
16. (23 May 2011). "Locals savour every minute of American dream". The Irish Times.
17. (24 May 2011). "The day O'bama stormed Moneygall". The Irish Times.
18. (23 May 2011). "President Barack Obama watches as First Lady Michelle Obama draws a pint". White House Flickr account.
19. (23 May 2011). "Barack And Michelle Obama Pour Guinness". Business Insider.
20. [https://www.rte.ie/news/leinster/2018/0820/986324-barack-obama-plaza-moneygall-offaly/ Barack Obama statue unveiled in Moneygall, Co Offaly] {{Webarchive. link. (4 February 2024 RTÉ News, 2018-08-20.)