Carney meets Irish cousins in Aughagower and calls for new alliances on eve of G7

Roots in Aughagower

Canadian prime minister Mark Carney travelled to the village of Aughagower in County Mayo on Sunday, the second day of his first official visit to Ireland in almost a decade. He attended Mass at St Patrick's Church, where his grandparents Robert Carney and Nora Moran were baptised before emigrating to Canada in 1925. Afterwards, surrounded by more than 20 cousins he had never met, Carney quipped:

“I have a lot more cousins than I realised.”

The visit included a stop at the family grave and the planting of a tree, as local residents lined streets decked with Canadian flags and bunting.

A fracturing global order

A day earlier at Trinity College Dublin, Carney struck a far more sombre tone. He described the post-Cold War consensus as breaking down and urged middle powers to respond with purposeful action.

“Ireland and Canada are navigating a global rupture, not a quiet transition.”

Carney argued that both countries must weave a 'dense web of connections... ad hoc coalitions' to protect shared interests. He added that Canada, Ireland and Europe 'can be pivotal, powerful, and purposeful, a force for good'.

Irish response and EU-Canada ties

Taoiseach Micheál Martin, whose country assumes the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union on 1 July, pledged to build on the prime minister's outreach.

“We want to put flesh on the bone of an enhanced European Union-Canadian relationship.”

Irish president Catherine Connolly welcomed Carney at Westport House on Sunday morning, exchanging pleasantries and joking about climbing the nearby Croagh Patrick in the fine weather.

Agenda before the G7

Carney's stop in Ireland comes as he heads to the G7 summit in France. The two-day visit mixed deep personal heritage with a clear message that Ottawa sees tighter transatlantic coordination as essential. The encounter also underscored Dublin's ambition to use its upcoming EU presidency to deepen non-US partnerships at a moment of geopolitical strain.