Barack Obama Plaza is a

motorway service area Motorway service areas in the United Kingdom and Ireland, also known as services or service stations, are rest areas where drivers can leave a motorway to refuel/recharge, rest, eat and drink, shop or stay in an on-site overnight hotel. The vas ...

on the

R445 road The R445 road is a regional road in Ireland. The route is a non-motorway alternative route to the N7/ M7 motorway between Naas and Limerick, and at 170 km it is one of the longest regional roads in Ireland (longer than most national roads). ...

at Junction 23, just off the M7 motorway in

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...

, Ireland. It is beside the village of

Moneygall Moneygall () is a small village on the border of counties Offaly and Tipperary, in Ireland. It is situated on the R445 road between Dublin and Limerick. There were 313 people living in the village as of the 2016 census. Moneygall has a Catholic ...

, which is just across the county border in

County Offaly County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in hono ...

, and is accessed using the Junction 23 slip roads. It is named after former US president

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

, whose third great-grandfather, Falmouth Kearney, lived in Moneygall and who emigrated to the US in 1850. The Plaza cost €7 million to construct and opened on 30 May 2014. An Obama museum–visitor centre opened on the following 4 July. The Plaza is owned and operated by Pat McDonagh and his wife Una McDonagh.

Facilities

The service station operating under the

Circle K Circle K Stores, Inc. is a Canadian chain of convenience stores headquartered in Laval, Quebec, Canada. It is owned by the multinational company Couche-Tard. Founded in 1951 in El Paso, Texas, the company filed for bankruptcy protection in 1 ...

brand has 26 petrol pumps across two forecourts offering unleaded petrol, diesel, MGO ( marine gas oil),

diesel exhaust fluid Diesel exhaust fluid (DEF; also known as AUS 32 and marketed as AdBlue) is a liquid used to reduce the amount of air pollution created by a diesel engine. Specifically, DEF is an aqueous urea solution made with 32.5% urea and 67.5% deionized w ...

, and LPG (

liquefied petroleum gas Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG or LP gas) is a fuel gas which contains a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases, specifically propane, propylene, butylene, isobutane and n-butane. LPG is used as a fuel gas in heating appliances, cooking e ...

). Charging stations including afast-charge ESB

electric car An electric car, battery electric car, or all-electric car is an automobile that is propelled by one or more electric motors, using only energy stored in batteries. Compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, electric cars are quie ...

charge point. In addition to fuel supplies there is a variety of food outlets including

Supermac's Supermac's is an Irish fast food restaurant chain first opened in 1978. The first restaurant was located in Ballinasloe, County Galway, in the West of Ireland. As of 2019, the chain consists of a total of 118 restaurants spread throughout Irela ...

Papa John's Pizza Papa John's International, Inc., d/b/a Papa Johns, is an American pizza restaurant chain. It is the fourth largest pizza delivery restaurant chain in the United States, with headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky and Atlanta, Georgia metropolita ...

, Mac's Place Bakery and Carvery, Bewleys coffee and a

Spar SPAR, originally DESPAR, styled as DE SPAR, is a Dutch multinational that provides branding, supplies and support services for independently owned and operated food retail stores. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932, by Adriaan van Well, ...

shop. The Plaza also includes a visitor centre that provides information on Obama's family connections to Moneygall where his great-great-great-grandfather lived, as well as five meeting rooms and a large function room. A bus service, No. 854 between Roscrea and Nenagh, calls at Barack Obama Plaza seven days a week. The service connects with the local communities of Toomevara, Cloughjordan and Shinrone.

Art

Bronze sculpture of Barack and Michelle Obama at Barack Obama Plaza - 1

A bronze bust of Barack Obama by Mark Rhodes, and commissioned by Plaza owner, Pat McDonagh, was unveiled inside the Plaza by the US Ambassador to Ireland,

Kevin O'Malley Kevin Francis O'Malley (born May 12, 1947) is an American lawyer and diplomat who was the United States Ambassador to Ireland from 2014 to 2017. Personal life and education Kevin O'Malley is a second generation Irish American, with dual citizens ...

, on 22 September 2016. On 20 August 2018, life-sized bronze sculptures of Barack and

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position. She is married t ...

, also by Mark Rhodes, were unveiled outside the Plaza by Cody Keenan, a former Obama speechwriter.Barack Obama statue unveiled in Moneygall, Co Offaly
RTÉ News, 2018-08-20.

References

{{Barack Obama Road infrastructure in the Republic of Ireland Buildings and structures in County Tipperary Michelle Obama Monuments to Barack Obama