“It wasn’t a Mayo visit, it was an Aughagower visit”

The people of Aughagower are still on a high following the recent, historic visit of the Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney.

By Jack Good Published 7th Jul 2026, 10:30 BST MOMENTO: John Concannon, Ireland’s Ambassador to Canada, presenting a framed copy of the Westport Historical Society’s ‘Aughagower to Canada’ booklet to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Canada. The people of Aughagower are still on a high following the recent, historic visit of the Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney. Sign up to our Mayo Live newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know you can manage your profile, and explore all of the available newsletters from Mayo Live within your account.

Just over three weeks after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s historic visit to his ancestral homeplace of Aughagower, County Mayo, the occasion is being remembered as a landmark day for the small parish.

The enduring goodwill and fondness was continued last Tuesday when Irish Ambassador to Canada John Concannon met with the Canadian premier in Canada and presented him with copies of The Mayo News , along with a framed booklet titled ‘Aughagower to Canada’, produced by the Westport Historical Society.

For the community of Aughagower itself, the day left a lasting impression. Speaking to The Mayo News , Collette Sheridan of the Aughagower Community said the village had turned out in force to welcome the grandson of Robert and Nora Carney home, describing the community as still buoyed by the visit’s historic significance. She said residents were struck by how generously Carney gave his time despite a packed schedule, greeting the crowd and meeting relatives, some of whom he had never known existed.

Sheridan noted that although the parish would have welcomed the chance to host the official civic reception itself, holding it in Westport ultimately worked in the community’s favour, keeping Carney’s time in Aughagower personal and unhurried, with space for everyone to meet him directly. She singled out the ceremonial tree planting as a particular highlight, calling the tree a living reminder of the day and a tribute to Aughagower’s most famous grandson. She thanked Carney, his team, and everyone who helped make the visit a success.

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But the celebratory mood didn’t stretch all the way down the Ballinrobe Road to last Monday’s monthly meeting of the Westport Belmullet Municipal District, where councillors claimed to have been ‘sidelined’ by county authorities in Castlebar.

The outgoing Cathaoirleach of the Municipal District, Cllr Peter Flynn, who had been unable to attend the civic reception, argued that Aughagower had been treated as an afterthought rather than the centrepiece of the visit, despite weeks of preparation by the parish, including refurbishing the community centre and gathering local history and photographs. He maintained that the civic reception should have been held in Aughagower and organised by the municipal district itself, and suggested that had Prime Minister Carney not chosen on his own to step outside and mingle with the crowd after Mass, the community might never have had a real chance to meet him.

He told the meeting that it “left a bad taste in people’s mouth.”

Flynn also raised concerns about the Westport Municipal District building, which he said had no Westport, Mayo, Irish or Canadian flag flying during visits from the President, the Taoiseach and Carney within the space of three weeks — while Castlebar, he said, was decked out appropriately for the occasion. He further noted that no local performers from groups with strong Aughagower connections featured in the official Town Hall programme, which instead showcased acts from elsewhere in Mayo.

Despite the criticism, Flynn was careful to frame the visit overall as a success for the country, saying his aim was to ensure lessons were learned for future events of similar scale rather than to assign blame.

Cllr John O’Malley echoed the concerns, describing the day’s organisation as 'poor’ and suggesting that what was billed as a Mayo visit had, in practice, been an Aughagower and Westport occasion from which the Municipal District was largely excluded.

He told the meeting that, “'it wasn’t a Mayo visit, it was an Aughagower visit.”

Cllr Sean Carey struck a more positive tone, recalling meeting Prime Minister Carney in Ottawa and describing him as 'down-to-earth’.

Flynn was particularly critical of the guest list, noting that local TD Keira Keogh — whose great-grandparents are buried in the same graveyard as Carney’s — was not invited to Aughagower, nor were local councillors more broadly.

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Responding to the criticism by Cllr Flynn, Keogh told The Mayo News she would have liked to attend given her family links to the village, but stressed that the day was about the community rather than politicians, and she did not want to take attention away from the volunteers who organised it. She praised Sheridan, the Aughagower Community Council and local volunteers for delivering what she called a hugely successful visit, and said she had faced real difficulty getting information ahead of the event from the Department of the Taoiseach, the Canadian Embassy, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Mayo County Council — difficulties she put down to the complexity of organising high-security, high-profile visits at short notice.

Keogh said the focus now should turn to celebrating the day’s success and using it to boost tourism in Aughagower, Westport and the wider county.

Notably, the only elected officials present in Aughagower on the day were the Taoiseach, Minister Dara Calleary, Minister of State Alan Dillon, and then Cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council Cllr Seán Carey — a detail councillors say illustrates how decision-making around the visit was concentrated at county level, with limited local input.

While there is little dispute that Carney’s visit was a landmark occasion for Aughagower and Mayo, the fallout over its organisation has exposed real tension between Westport Municipal District and county authorities in Castlebar — a rift councillors say will need to be addressed before Mayo hosts its next major state occasion.