Moneygall became internationally known through Barack Obama's ancestry. Its older buildings and school records reveal the village in which the Kearney family lived before their departure for America.
Illustration, Main Street, Moneygall
⊕Recorded locationMoneygall52.87974° N · 7.95611° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
Muine Gall· Irish · main form · validated name
Moneygall· English · main form
Place & story
A school supported by local labour
In July 1849, the parish priest, John Egan, asked the education commissioners to bring Moneygall's school into the national system. The site was leased to the trustees for a nominal annual rent of one shilling, and local contributions were expected to cover about a third of the cost in money and labour. James Feehan began teaching there on 3 February 1851, assisted by Thomas Carey. Margaret Nolan taught needlework to the girls. The school history records 184 pupils on the rolls in the early period, although attendance was lower.[2]
A school that became a chapel
Another part of the village's educational history survives in the small stone building recorded as Moneygall Church. Built around 1800 as a school, it became a chapel of ease for Templeharry Church in 1888. Its pointed windows have cast-iron latticework, and the slate roof includes decorative courses. The building's former school use helps explain its modest size and position among the houses on the main street. By the architectural survey of 2004 it had ceased to be used for worship.[3]
People & connections
The Kearneys and Barack Obama
The village's connection with Barack Obama came through Falmouth Kearney, who emigrated to the United States in 1850. In an RTÉ report broadcast on the night of the 2008 presidential election, Canon Stephen Neill explained his research confirming the Moneygall ancestry. Local people gathered at Ollie Hayes's pub to follow the result, including Obama's distant relative Henry Healy. On 23 May 2011, President Obama and Michelle Obama visited the village. Speaking later that day in Dublin, he described seeing the ancestral home, meeting Henry and visiting the local pub.[4][5]
The next schoolhouse
Moneygall's replacement national school opened on 11 March 1935 after local fundraising secured the required contribution towards a government grant. The school recalls that water and electricity were not connected until the late 1960s: children fetched water in a bucket from a village fountain, and open fireplaces heated the rooms. These details preserve the everyday experience of schooling alongside the village's more recent international fame.[2]
Both counts use the 2016 settlement boundary, allowing like-for-like comparison. CSO supplies the 2022 count on this older boundary for comparison only. The official 2022 Built Up Area has different boundaries.
View population figures
Moneygall — Census 2016 settlement footprint — census population
These are the historical areas published in the 2006 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
View population figures
Moneygall, Offaly — Census town, CSO 2006 report — census population
These are the historical areas published in the 1996 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
View population figures
Moneygall, Offaly — Census town, CSO 1996 report — census population
Figures cover the historical town area printed in the 1986 report. Boundaries may have changed between censuses. Legal town, environs and suburb totals remain separate and differ from modern settlement boundaries.
View population figures
Moneygall, Offaly — Census town, CSO 1986 report — census population
These figures use different area definitions. Read the boundary note before comparing them.
Moneygall, Offaly
Published census settlement populations
313people · 2016
Settlement boundaries changed during this period. Differences may reflect boundary changes as well as population change. Where a 2011 legal-town-and-environs count is shown, it has not been recalculated onto the 2016 settlement boundary.
placenames
