Fourteen years ago, US president Barack Obama stepped on stage at Dublin’s College Green to a rapturous reception. The 60,000 crowd had been worked up to hysterical levels of excitement by warm-up acts including Westlife and Jedward, and sports figures Brian O’Driscoll and Katie Taylor, as well as Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
On Thursday, Mr Obama was back in town to receive the Freedom of the city of Dublin. He was greeted by Lord Mayor Ray McAdam, seven other city councillors, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe and former Taoiseach Brian Cowen. Also in attendance was former Lord Mayor Brendan Carr, who proposed Mr Obama for the honour eight years ago, as well as city council chief executive Richard Shakespeare and a small number of other officials and dignitaries.
The private ceremony, attended by a crowd of about 30, was held in the Constitution room of the Shelbourne Hotel opposite St Stephen’s Green, the park where Mr Obama now has the right to graze sheep.
The former US president was presented with a copy of the first American edition of Ulysses and a bottle of whiskey. He signed the official scroll, making him a freeman of Dublin. According to one or two of those present, he said a few words referencing the “challenging times” the world was facing, and the need for “hope” that there would be “brighter days ahead”.
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He stood for some photos, shook hands, told Green Party councillor Janet Horner she looked very young to be a politician (she was delighted) and the whole event was done and dusted in about half an hour.
Afterwards, Cllr Horner said Mr Obama was “very warm”, while Social Democrats councillor Cat O’Driscoll said the ceremony was “quite nice” and “an uplifting occasion”.
Cllr McAdam said it was a privilege to have the opportunity to award Mr Obama the Freedom of Dublin, saying the former president had shown that words coupled with convictions “could still move mountains”. Cllr McAdam reflected on the words of Beckett: “Better hope deferred than none”.
Groups leaders of each party on the council were invited to the ceremony, but Sinn Féin, People Before Profit and the Independent group declined to attend.
The Independent group said it was boycotting the event due to Mr Obama’s foreign policy regime in office, including his support of Israel “despite its war crimes in Gaza and relentless settlement expansion”.
About 50 people gathered outside the Shelbourne Hotel during the ceremony, some expressing similar sentiments.
Mark Price of the Irish Anti War Movement said he was there to “protest Barack Obama’s visit to Dublin”.
“He’s been an absolute operative for the American empire and we should not be [giving] him the Freedom of the city of Dublin, in my opinion,” he said.
“He might have made some statements early in his presidency about Guantanamo Bay and Palestine and so on, but in practice, he vastly increased instability through drone warfare in Afghanistan and Pakistan and through escalating the Ukraine situation in 2014.”
However, most shared positive sentiments. Danielle Bochneak, from Obama’s hometown of Chicago, who has been living in Ireland for two years, recalled meeting him on the night he secured his first presidential term in 2008. “It was just a handshake, but he makes a connection with everyone that he comes in contact with . . . so that was really incredible.”
Asked why she came to the Shelbourne on Thursday afternoon, she said: “I miss him. We are lacking the civility that president Obama and Michelle Obama bring to the White House, so I really wanted to see them again.”
Terri McClain, from Seattle, wearing an “I heart Obama” t-shirt, said she flew to Dublin to attend Obama’s public interview with Fintan O’Toole, which will take place in the 3Arena on Friday evening.
“We all miss him in the States and what’s happening now is not a good thing,” she said. “God bless president Obama, he’s a good person and I support him all the time.”
Sylvia Jones from Dublin and Dave Quinn from Limerick joined the crowd at the Shelbourne “to support Obama”.
Wearing a shirt that read “Trump Not Welcome”, Ms Jones said she is “wishing for better times, the good times when [Obama] was in power, not this absolute disaster that’s happening at the moment”.
