Sligo County Council is to reissue a previous invitation to US vice president Mike Pence to visit the county.
It comes amid reports that dates for a trip to Ireland by Mr Pence in early September are being looked at by Irish and US officials.
If the visit does go ahead, there are hopes the vice president will visit South Sligo, from where his grandfather left for America in 1923.
This morning came news that a visit to Ireland by U. S. vice president Mike Pence is being considered, possibly in September.
Yesterday, Independence Day in the U.S., Mr Pence was thinking not only about Ireland but of his ancestral home in South Sligo.
Speaking at a citizenship ceremony, he recalled his grandfather, Richard Michael Cawley, who left Doocastle, near Tubbercurry, for America in 1923.
Now, with thoughts of Sligo so prominent in his mind, there are hopes the Vice President Pence will
come to South Sligo if his visit to Ireland goes ahead.
Sligo County Council Cathaoirleach Tom MacSharry would certainly like to see him come here,
Cllr MacSharry recalled an invitation issued to Mr Pence after he became vice president.
Meanwhile, former TD and Junior Minister John Perry, who this morning confirmed he will be a candidate in the coming general election, hopes Mr Pence would also visit Ballymote, where there’s an American Civil War monument that contains steel from the ill-fated Twin Towers of Lower Manhatan that were attacked in 2001.
Mr Pence holds some deeply conservative views, including in relation to LGBT issues.
A vice presidential visit could be an occasion for protest against that and some of the Trump administration’s policies, including on immigration and climate change.
But Larry Donnelly, an Irish-American attorney and Law Professor at NUI Galway, thinks Mr Pence will get a warm welcome if he visits.
